Strawhat Mania
by FMPtrumpets
Summary: Just a series of one-shots. Will be added to randomly, as I get ideas. Will be mostly the Strawhats, other crews might be added randomly too. First chapter, after the storm, before Whiskey Peak. Some chapters may or may not be AU
1. Luffy- After the storm

I got this idea while I was reading 'First Mate', by midnite-republic. I figured, what if Zoro wasn't really sleeping, during their first major weather crisis of the Grand Line?

* * *

Luffy sat on the figurehead of the Going Merry, thinking about what they just went through. These seas were certainly different, and so much fun! But also dangerous. They were going to have to be careful, and make sure that they were ready for anything at all times.

They were on their way to Whiskey Peak, along with their two guests. Luffy wasn't stupid, he knew that the girl was more than she seemed. She kinda reminded him of Nami when she was trying to convince them to leave her home island, that she had killed Usopp and would kill them too. What she was saying, and the look in her eyes had not agreed with each other. Her mouth said 'leave', her eyes had screamed 'stay'. The girl... Miss Wednesday, she was kind of the same way. It was clear to Luffy that something was wrong, that she wanted to be anywhere but here, she was worried about something. It hadn't seemed to Luffy like she was really trying to kill Laboon, but rather, putting on an act. An act for her partner, maybe? Like how Nami had to put on an act for Arlong?

That was the only reason he was helping them get back to their home after what they tried to do with Laboon.

Not long after leaving the whale and Crocus behind, they were hit with bad weather, what started as simple snow, soon turned into cyclones, thunderstorms, high waves, blizzards, ice-burgs, you name it, they had to sail through it. There had been no end to it, and through it all, Luffy laughed.

He laughed because it was fun, but he also laughed because he knew that if he didn't, Usopp would panic more than he already was, and then he might have gotten hurt, or gotten somebody else hurt. And he couldn't have that. He also laughed because he knew they would be fine. He trusted Nami to get them through the storms. If he hadn't known with 100% certainty that they wouldn't be alright, he wouldn't have been anywhere close to laughing.

Of course, he wasn't the only one whose actions during the crisis Nami didn't really appreciate, he thought, as he listened to Nami and Miss Wednesday behind him, yelling at Zoro who had finally 'woken up'.

Silly Nami, didn't she know that where Zoro was sitting was the perfect spot to be able to easily jump in and quickly rescue anybody who potentially went overboard? That where he was sitting allowed him the best view of the deck where he could watch and be where he needed to be quickly? That he wasn't being lazy, he was saving his strength for after it was over, for in case they were attacked while they were all too tired to react properly?

He didn't say anything, though. Nami was just going to have to learn to trust that her crewmate knew what he was doing, and that if he was ever truly needed, then he would be right there.

Someday, she would learn, but for now, they were still too new as a crew. Someday, she would place more trust in them to be there when she needed them to be. Until then, they would watch, and wait.


	2. Luffy- Captain's Orders

Luffy sat on his figurehead and listened to the commotion behind him. They had left Alabasta about a week ago, and things had been calm since.

And boring. Very, very boring.

But, he realized that the calmness was a good thing, it let the others heal, rest, and relax. So, he tried not to complain. Too much. (See, he could think of others!)

Sometimes...

He'd give them a couple more days before he started bouncing everywhere again. He was getting fidgety, he had to move!

He glanced over at Zoro from his spot. Despite the fact that Zoro was settled down for one of his naps, he was facing the new crew member, Robin. He knew that it would take a while before Zoro trusted Robin like he trusted the rest of them. Oh, he would protect her just as easily as he protected the rest of them, but he wouldn't trust her. Not for a while yet. Which made sense, she had been their enemy.

Zoro and a few others had questioned why he let her stay, maybe not vocally or to his face, but he knew they questioned his decision in letting her on-board. Truthfully, he had wondered about it himself briefly.

But, the more he thought about it, the more it felt right. Her face down in that tomb (or whatever that place was) kept flashing in his mind. That moment when she told him to just leave her there, let her die. It was similar to the face Ace would sometimes have whenever he came back from another bar fight when they were younger, before Luffy finally managed to get him to stop going out. Honestly, asking complete strangers about a guy they never knew, never even met, what was Ace thinking, it wasn't like they were capable of giving him an honest answer that wasn't based on what the stupid government told them.

Whenever he came back, though, Luffy would do whatever he could to make Ace happy again, to distract him, and remind him that Ace had people who cared, that didn't care who his father was.

And when he saw that look on Robin's face, he wanted to do anything he could to get rid of it, just like he did with Ace years ago. He knew full well that Ace never really forgot, but he also knew that Ace knew that he somebody who loved him.

Glancing over at Robin now, where she was sitting with a book in her lap while Sanji noodled around her, (which was long since termed a mystery since last Luffy checked, HE was the one who was made of rubber, not Sanji, but... whatever) he knew he made the right choice. And the others would come to realize that in time. Until they trusted her, they were just going to have to trust him.

After all, Captains Orders.


	3. Ace- a good crew

Ace was sitting around the camp-fire, watching as his little brother and his crew laid out around it, sleeping. He was thinking about how this group was perfect for his little brother, they were all experts in their various positions on the ship, and they were all more than willing to put up with his rubber-brained idiot self. They were also very protective of him.

That was good. That was very good.

All the good captains, even the strongest ones out there, needed someone willing to protect them, even if they did not need it. It was usually seen as the mark of a good captain, he saw it as the mark of a good crew.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when Nami was woken up by the increasing chill around them. A chill that he naturally didn't even notice by nature of his devil fruit. When he did notice, it was only after she nudged his arm. "Can you restart the fire?" She whispered. He looked at her, startled, before he glanced at the fire and realized he had been so lost in thought he hadn't realized it was almost out. She had already placed some new logs and twigs on it, it just needed a fireball.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that." He said quietly even as he lobbed a fireball in. She breathed a sigh of relief when the warmth increased. "So, how long have you been with Luffy?" He asked when it was clear she wasn't going to go back to sleep for a while.

"Oh, its been a while, technically, I'm the second one to join him, after Zoro." She said, coming to sit closer to him so they could hold their conversation without waking her tired crew and the princess traveling with them.

"Technically?"

She huffed a laugh. "Yeah, they met me when I was running from some of Buggy the Clown's men after stealing something from them. I hated pirates... my home village was under the control of Arlong and the Fishman Pirates at the time, and I'd been forced into being their cartographer. But then Luffy and Zoro come along, help free that town from Buggy, and ask me to join them. So... I did, sort of. The plan was to travel with them for a while, and then rob them blind so I could add it to the treasure pile I had. Arlong had a price put on my village... 100,000,000 bellies for their freedom." She explained.

"Ah, so they thought you were with them, but you weren't." Ace said in realization.

Nami smirked, and nodded. But then she frowned. "I was determined to hate them, simply because they claimed to be pirates. But... over time I just couldn't help but grow attached. While I was with them, they continually destroyed any and all beliefs I had about pirates. Yes, some of them are cruel and evil, but not all of them. They saved Usopp's village from a pirate thought to be executed three years ago, they helped an old pirate realize learn that the treasure he'd been protecting for years wasn't even there... They left half of my treasure behind once so that the townspeople would be able to rebuild." She said, she was still ticked about that. Not the fact that it was to help the townspeople. But the fact that it was her treasure and he just left it there!

Ace chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like my brother all right. When we were younger, he was always giving away some of our hard earned (stolen) treasure and giving some of it out to the families in the Terminal. In secret, of course, otherwise some of the local thugs would have killed the family and stolen it back. Despite the fact that it was LUFFY giving it to them." He said fondly.

"What does it being Luffy giving it to them have to do with them leaving the family alone?" She asked, confused.

Ace chuckled. "I guess you could say Luffy and I had a bit of a reputation on our home island." He said with a grin, and left it at that. She frowned, reputation for what? "So, when did you officially join him?" Ace asked.

Nami laughed again, "Before we reached the Baratie and met Sanji, we met up with some bounty hunter friends of Zoro's, and they accidentally dropped a stack of bounty posters. One of them was Arlong's. It reminded me that I had to get back, so... when the boys were distracted with Don Krieg, I stole the Merry and went back home. I wasn't expecting them to follow me. Well," She amended. "I was, but I was expecting them to take their ship back and leave. Not stay and beat Arlong up before demanding I keep sailing with them. Freeing my home in the process." She said.

Ace laughed at that, "That sounds like Luffy. He wanted you, so he was going to do whatever it took to get you." He said. He didn't say that Luffy had done the same to him. Luffy had just kept coming after him until the incident with Porchemy, after which Ace had finally accepted Luffy's presence in his life, and their relationship only grew from there until they were close brothers. Of course, it was Sabo's death that really brought them closer together. He looked up at her when he heard her yawn. "You should go back to sleep. We have another long day tomorrow walking through the dessert, and the heat doesn't make it any easier for you guys."" He said. Especially Luffy, where the heat didn't effect Ace at all, it just about killed Luffy. His rubber was a good insulator, which was good in the cold, not so good in the heat. And then, of course, there was Chopper. A cold weather animal in the dessert.

She looked up and nodded, then went back to her sleeping roll and got back in it, falling asleep with a 'good night'. Ace chuckled before he looked at Luffy fondly again.

Yes, he had a good crew.


	4. Garp- a Smart First Mate

Garp watched as his adorable grandson flew away on his new ship. It didn't take long for them to be out of sight. He smirked as he thought about what he just saw, just before they took off.

One of Luffy's crew had been stuck on shore, begging them to come back, making all kinds of excuses. But, despite the fact that Garp could tell Luffy was all for taking him back, Zoro refused, yelling that they couldn't trust him. Not yet.

And Luffy went with it, despite the fact that it was tearing everyone apart to leave their Nakama there.

Until he apologized, and it was heartfelt.

It had been like a switch was flipped. Luffy's crew lit up and a few jumped to defend Luffy as well as the ship while he stretched his arm back for the boy left behind. He could hear their laughter and rejoicing the moment he was on the ship with them, where he belonged.

Luffy had a smart first mate, he didn't know what the long-nosed kid had done to almost get left behind, but clearly something big happened to make them lose their trust in him.

And it was smart for them to not just let him back on board like nothing happened. There was no telling if he might do it again if that happened.

"You let them go." Aokiji said beside him.

Garp looked at him with a grin, "No, I didn't expect them to fly off. I'm tired, I'm not as young as I used to be. I'll be in my cabin." He said, and walked off with a proud expression.

He could sleep better now knowing that Luffy had a smart first mate and a strong crew. He may not have been throwing at full strength, but he was at over half-strength. And they were still deflecting or slicing through them easily. He thought of the well-dressed blonde and smirked again.

He'd call Zeff later, or even find an excuse to pay him a visit, out there in the East Blue, and let him know how his son was doing.

They could keep his grandson out of too much trouble.

Hopefully...

Luffy was a D, after all.


	5. Robin- A New Family

Robin sat in her chair, luckily it had been brought off the Merry before the ship finally couldn't sail anymore. For once, she couldn't concentrate on her book. She could usually tune out the noises of the crew around her.

But not today.

Today, she was watching everyone go about their days as if nothing had happened over the past week. As if she hadn't gone with CP9, as if she didn't try to assassinate Iceberg, as if she didn't try to sacrifice herself so the crew could get away safely, only to find out later that they never had any intentions at all of actually holding their end of the deal.

As if they hadn't stormed and destroyed the Judicial Island of the World Government to get her back, as if they hadn't just declared war on the Marines _for her._

The only thing off about their behavior that was any indication at all about the past week, was in how Chopper was being extra bossy (as per usual when they had injuries), and how Franky was still showing Usopp around the ship, so he would know where everything was in case he needed to make a few emergency repairs and Franky was gone for some reason, just until Franky came back to do full repairs, of course.

And, of course, the new ship itself. Oh, they would have been sailing away from Water 7 with a new ship regardless, but... it probably wouldn't have been built by Franky and Iceberg, and it probably wouldn't have been able to afford something so big. As it was, this was practically given to them (after Franky built it using materials he bought with the money he stole from them...)

She still couldn't believe it happened. After all her years of traveling on her own, joining organizations and crews only to leave or betray them in the end, depending on what was happening at the time. She had never thought she would ever find somebody who would put it all on the line for her like that. She'd been running for so long, she never thought she would ever have somewhere to call home, never thought she would ever have a family again after the destruction of her home island, after the scholars were all killed, all because they could read an ancient language, all because they wanted to know history.

She turned to look at where Luffy was laughing with Usopp and Chopper about something, Luffy and Zoro had spent all day after they got away from Garp locked away with Usopp somewhere, probably talking about his behavior at Water 7. Luffy may be a little bit of an idiot, but he could be serious and a responsible captain when he wanted to be. But, now it was clear that Usopp's actions were forgiven and forgotten, since they were now laughing and talking like nothing ever happened to begin with, normally Usopp would be less boisterous.

And nobody ever even mentioned her leaving, despite the fact that her crimes against the crew were so much greater, she put them all in great danger.

She smiled and looked up at Sanji when he noodled around her with a new recipe, he wanted to see what she thought. She smiled and laughed, accepting the snacks.

She decided not to think about it too much, and just enjoy her crew's antics. She wasn't going to dwell on it, she was going to enjoy her time with them, she wasn't planning on going anywhere anymore.


	6. Ace- Light in the Dark

Ace stared at the newspaper in front of him. And he stared. And stared.

He'd just stopped at this island to restock supplies, and he just happened to overhear a few locals discussing the morning newspaper over their lunch in the diner he was in, he had been debating whether or not a dine-and-dash would have been worth it.

But, most of all, they were discussing _Luffy_ being in the paper.

Had Luffy really set out already? He knew it had been getting close to that time, but he was pretty bad about keeping track of dates sometimes. Especially when he was away from the ship for any amount of time. Although he was currently on his way back to the Moby after his long 'solo' mission. Well, it hadn't started as a solo mission, he'd had a member of his division with him, unfortunately, he'd been caught in an avalanche on the winter island they were at.

Ace had thought he was safely tucked away in a neighboring village, he hadn't known that the man had been up in the mountains searching for a medicinal herb he'd heard about from one of the village doctors, he'd apparently wanted to bring some back for the Whitebeard's medical staff to take a look at. By the time Ace found out he was in the mountains, right about where the avalanche had been, it had been too long. They had too much area to search, and not enough time to find him. Sure enough, when they finally did find him (with a bag full of herbs), he'd been frozen. Not even Ace could have thawed him out.

So, maybe it wasn't really so strange he didn't know what the date was before this. He'd been avoiding all signs of civilization while heading home. He wouldn't have stopped here, except he was out of food, and he really didn't think those herbs were edible.

He could also admit to taking his time going back, he didn't know how he was going to face Pops about this. That was his brother, a member of HIS division, it was Ace's responsibility to make sure he came home safe.

He failed.

He shook his head to get rid of these thoughts. He didn't want to dwell on what happened, if he did he would just get mad, and then he would start to get depressed, and then he would start thinking of doing stuff that would make Luffy sad if his baby brother knew he was doing it.

He looked at the bounty poster that had been with the paper, and, for the first time in weeks, he smiled.

His baby brother was already out there causing havoc and mayhem.

Now that he knew this, he wanted to get home, he had to tell his family the good news (and the bad news, too). Thatch would want to start planning Luffy's welcome into the New World.

He barely noticed that his previously dark mood had been chased away just by seeing a picture of his baby brother.

Luffy truly was his light in the darkness.


	7. Ace- the Weakest Sea?

"Hey, Marco..." Ace said, staring at the newspaper headlines. They were blaring about a new, strong player within the East Blue, the weakest of the four Blues. (And no, it wasn't about Luffy, he still had another year yet before he sailed.)

Marco sighed quietly. Here he'd been hoping for a nice, quiet breakfast after a night in the crow's nest. "Yes, Ace?"

"Why do you think they consider the East to be the Weakest Sea? I mean, I know it's the CALMEST sea, but can it really be the weakest when such strong people have come from there?" Ace asked. He didn't notice when everybody nearby started staring at him, which led to the rest of the room quieting down to see what had them so interested. "I mean, you have Garp, Dragon... Roger." He forced his voice to stay even on Roger's name. "And that guy Pops was telling me about the other day, that Lion guy... Four of the strongest men in the world. And, I mean, I'm not a weakling myself, either..." He still had yet to notice how silent the room was. "And I just know that when my brother sets out, he and his crew are going to be stronger than all of them." Ace finished.

He turned to Marco again, "So, why do you think its considered the weakest? After all, it's the birthplace of both the world's Pirate King's, past and future." He was fully aware that he would be trying to make Pops the King instead of Luffy, but he also knew that Pops wasn't really interested in the title. His kid brother certainly _was_.

Marco could only blink at him for a second, the surprise clearly written all over his usually lazy face. "Well, I don't think a handful of strong people are enough to make for the millions of weak ones that come out of that sea." He said slowly before excusing himself. He wasn't sure if he was going to go to his quarters and laugh over Ace's latest 'puzzle', or try to get some sleep before he had to get back to work keeping this shipload of _over-grown_ _children_ in line, and then try and forget all about this one.

Ace frowned at his back when he left, then he turned to the closest person and asked if they knew.

The whole time, the other commanders sat back and listened in amusement. Oh, yeah. The kid would make an excellent commander...


	8. Ace- A New Commander

"Ace!" The man in question turned when he heard his name being called.

"Yeah?" He asked when he saw who it was.

"Marco wants to see you."

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it." Ace blurted. Which, was actually the truth. But, that didn't stop everyone within earshot to start looking around and moving about the ship cautiously, something Ace noticed and inwardly smirked at.

"Uh, I don't know what he wants, but thanks for the heads up." The now nervous first-division member said before he told Ace where Marco was and quickly left to go hid- er, go take a nap. Yeah, he was just going to take a nap, he wasn't busy right now, he wasn't on watch, or on chore duty today.

Ace's mental smirk got bigger. He honestly hadn't done anything. But they didn't know that... and now they thought he did. Sometimes, the best prank, was making everyone think there was one, when there wasn't. He could just sit back and watch them lose it. He would have to warn Thatch later on though, so he didn't pull something and ruin what Ace had going right now.

"Hey, Marco, I was told you wanted to see me?" He called cheerfully once he finally found the first-mate. His little non-prank had put him in a good mood. Something that Marco noticed and raised an eyebrow at, but decided to let go... for now. He would find out later what the fireman did, he was already planning out the punishment.

The night-crew told him that they found a bunch of knotted up sail lines thrown into a room and left, and none of them knew how long they'd been laying there or who put them there, but whoever put them there, somebody needed to unknot them and coil them up in one of the supply rooms... hmm... That seemed like a fitting punishment...

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused on Ace, who was actually looking a little nervous now, probably from the long silence and the way Marco was looking at him. "Yes, I'm sending you out on a supply run with some of my division. You're in charge. Here's the list. My men already know where your going, try not to blow up the island while your there." He said, before walking away to deal with the an argument that he just heard start up somewhere on deck.

Ace stared after him in shock, before blinking and studying the list Marco handed him. It was a very strange list... flour, some fresh eggs, booze, sugar, streamers... a dagger? Was it somebodies birthday and nobody bothered to tell him? He knew it wasn't his, the only one who even knew what _month_ his birthday was, let alone what _day_ , was Luffy. And Luffy was back home on Dawn Island, with no contact with the _Moby Dick_.

And why on earth were they putting him in charge? Why wasn't Marco's division right-hand in charge like he normally was when a group from the First was sent out without Marco accompanying them? Not to mention, why was he going at all? He was part of the Second Division, why put him in charge of men from the First? What on earth...?

Finally, he shook his head and decided to just go with it, and head for his room to pack a spare pair of pants or two before heading for the boat. Inwardly, he pouted, because if he was leaving, that meant he wouldn't be able to watch everybody fall apart trying to figure out what he didn't do! He stopped, then detoured. "Hey, Thatch!" He called when he stepped just inside the doorway of the kitchen. This was the farthest inside that he was allowed to come, much to his disappointment.

"Ace! What's up." Thatch called over. "Hold on just one moment!" Ace nodded and watched (no, he was not drooling, either), while Thatch finished what he was making and put it in the oven. It smelled so good! Great, now he was hungry. When Thatch finally came over, "Ok, now, what's up?" He asked again.

"This morning, I set some of the First Division off, trying to figure out what prank I pulled this time." Thatch looked somewhat confused, this was nothing new. "Except, that this time, I didn't pull anything." Now Thatch was starting to look excited, which added to Ace's growing smirk. Then he pouted, which he would deny if anybody ever told him. "Unfortunately, Marco is sending me off for a supply run, so I can't stay and watch the fall-out. Be a good older brother and record some of it for me?" He practically begged.

"They're going to be paranoid messes by the time they figure it out." Thatch breathed, his eyes glazed over at the thought.

Ace smirked again and nodded happily. "I didn't even mean to do it."

"Oh, that's the best kind of prank, little brother. All right, I have a few minutes before I need to be back here, I'll go set up a few recording-snails for you. Good luck on the supply run." He said with a smirk before sauntering off to find where he hid the recording-snails since he used them last. Ace breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to miss the show before running to his room, and from there to the supply boat to meet up with the rest of the group for this little trip.

Marco and the rest of the commanders stood around Pops chair, watching as Ace and the rest of the supply runners set sail. "You sure he's ready, Pops? Running a division is a lot of work." Namur asked, glancing at their father and captain.

"Yes, he's ready. As soon as they get back, we finish the preparations, and then we celebrate our new Division Commander, Fire-Fist Ace."


	9. Shanks- Little Anchor

Shanks was sitting away from the rest of the crew, bottle of sake in hand, a wanted poster in his lap, proudly displaying the grinning face of one Monkey D. Luffy.

His little Anchor.

He grimaced when his arm stump twinged in remembered pain, but after a moment grinned instead at the thought of the cheerful, energetic little boy being let loose upon the unsuspecting world. Maybe he should warn a few of his allies...?

Nah, they should figure it out when they caught sight of Hat. Well... those of them that knew him back then, anyway. Either way, these next few years should be fun. And nerve-wracking. If he remembered correctly the kind of trouble Anchor had a habit of getting into and the kind of chaos he left behind him. And the kind of relationships he tended to squeeze out of people.

He leaned back against the tree behind him and looked up at the sky, remembering the first time Luffy showed up on board the Red Force not long after they met. The first time he'd really paid the kid any attention, and the real start of their relationship.

 _Shanks was woken up, with the usual pounding hangover and already wishing he could go back to sleep, by shouting and loud laughter coming from the more coherent of his crew. Despite the fact that silence in the mornings was one of the few rules on his ship (unless they were under attack, of course). ESPECIALLY on mornings following a party._

 _Which was most mornings..._

 _He got up, and stumbled towards the door, grumbling about people who couldn't keep it down and how they were doing chores for the next few months for waking him up. He just might take a page out of the Phoenixes book and create extra ship chores just for them. The nastiest he could think of. And... cut them off their sake for a few weeks, as well. Yeah, that would do it._

 _His brain stuttered to a halt when he stepped outside (why was it so bright out?! The light burns!), only to see the cheerful kid that hung around the local bar and seemed to have attached himself to Shanks and his crew. What was the kid doing here? Was there something wrong with him mentally? Because what six-seven year old kid wants to hang around a bunch of pirates? Especially a kid from such a peaceful island?_

 _Although, he mused, that might actually be part of the problem._

 _His thoughts once again stuttered to a halt when he realized what some of his bounty-less fighters were doing. They were teaching the kid how to throw a proper punch._

 _Or... trying to... anyway._

 _He winced when the kid threw a punch, over-reached, and promptly spun around before landing on his butt. Prompting more laughter from his teachers as they helped him up and tried to correct his form, again._

 _(He would later learn that the kid actually packed quite a bit of power in those small fists of his. Unfocused and untrained as it was, despite, as Makino would later tell him, the 'training' efforts of his grandfather. Who he did NOT want to meet while they were here.)_

 _He turned and made his way towards where his Haki and knowledge of the man told him his first mate was, watching the proceedings on deck. "Benny?" He asked/begged. "What's the kid doing here? And why are my men teaching him to fight?" He was honestly confused. Why on earth did the kid come to a pirate ship, instead of staying home and having breakfast with his parents?_

 _Benn, his wonderful, caring, kind, and patient first mate; smirked in somewhat sadistic amusement at seeing his captain so lost for answers. "Kid showed up out of nowhere and said he was lonely. Somewhere in the conversation, he mentioned his punches being like pistols, and how he was a good fighter. So, the boys asked him to show them, and... seeing his, ah, attempts, decided that it was just sad and they would teach him a little bit."_

 _Shanks frowned, lonely? What about his parents?_

 _Benn seemed to sense his next question, because he continued, "I asked him if his parents wouldn't be worried, he said that he didn't have any. So, I asked him who he lived with, if they wouldn't be worried. He said he lived alone because his grandfather was busy, kid doesn't even know where he is. All I could get out of him was that his grandfather was a Marine somewhere." He said._

 _Shanks frown deepened. "Kid was lonely, so he came to find a bunch of pirates to play with?" He asked in disbelief, watching as the kid finally managed to throw a punch without landing on the ground. Although, he still over-reached and spun around a bit. "Kid's lucky that we are the kind of pirates we are, and not like some of the others sailing around these days." He muttered. Benn nodded beside him. He could name a few captains off the top of his head out there who would just take the kid and sell him, or keep him and put him to work. Depending on how broke they were or who they knew._

 _And, there went Shanks' theory on the kid being so friendly with them because this was a peaceful place. If his grandfather was a Marine... and probably one of the higher-ups. None of the cannon fodder Marines were old enough to be grandfathers. No, those that were old enough to be grandfathers were the ones that, for the most part, sat around and debated on everyday matters, like new bounties and disciplinary measures for soldiers acting up, and acting up in a big enough way that their direct superiors sent them to Headquarters to be_ court-martialed _. Or worse... the Vice-Admirals._

 _Great, they were going to have to keep an eye out, no need for a Marine grandpa to show up while they were on vacation and spoil it, after all._

 _Although, that still didn't explain why the kid was here._

 _On a pirate ship._

 _Learning how to throw a punch from some of his men._

 _... It was way too early in the morning for this._

 _He watched for another minute, decided that it was too early for this without breakfast and sake, especially with his headache, and sighed. "I'm going for a walk." He muttered to Benn, who raised an eyebrow, but nodded knowingly. Somehow, he left the ship without the kid noticing him, (that kid could be like a little monkey sometimes, once he latched on, he just would not let go!) and made his way towards the Party Bar. Ducking inside, he was pleased to see the barmaid, Makino, was there._

 _"Oh, Captain! Good morning, what can I get you?" She asked when she saw him._

 _"Oh, some breakfast sounds good, I'll take whatever. And some sake!" He called after her when she nodded and turned to go into the kitchen to get his food. While she was gone, he could not get that weird kid out of his head. How on earth is a kid as sunny and bubbly as that one, lonely enough that he turns to a group of pirates he just met the week before, for company? Surely, some of the village parents looked after him? Or something?_

 _When Makino came back, he gave her a giant grin, and started digging in, with a quick 'thank you'. When he was half-way through, he slowed down a little so he could talk. The kid spent so much time hanging around here, he figured that the owner of the place had to know something. "So... a kid showed up on my ship this morning, claiming to be lonely." He started, looking up at her. She grimaced. He didn't even need to go further than that before she understood._

 _"His grandfather is Garp." She started, and then raised a knowing eyebrow when he just about spat out his sake in shock. "Garp shows up about once or twice a year, there have been occasions where he showed up more often, rarely. When he shows up, he usually takes off with Luffy to the forest, claiming that they are going to train. He almost always comes back without Luffy, and then a week or so later, Luffy either stumbles back into town, or Garp has to go find him because he didn't come back on his own. That's pretty much the extent of their relationship."_

 _Shanks stared at her in horror. He knew Garp was crazy, but to treat his grandson like that... no wonder Dragon started the Army, if his father ever came after him he would have a bunch of people to throw between the two of them while he made his escape. That wasn't why the Army was really there, but... that was one use for them. And, yes, he knows about the relationship between Dragon and Garp. Most of the upper-hierarchy of the pirates knew, they just didn't care. It was kind of hard not to know when Dragon used to be an Admiral himself until he left._

 _He turned his attention back to her when she started talking again. "The rest of the year, Luffy lives on his own, sure, Garp sends money to either myself or the mayor to pay for his upkeep, food and clothes. But... there's only so much we can do in terms of human company. We both have jobs to do and a living of our own to make."_

 _Shanks looked back down at his food in thought. And then she continued before disappearing back into the kitchen, "When you and your crew showed up, is honestly the most excited and the happiest I have seen him in a long time. He's always been a cheerful kid, I don't think that will ever change, but... there are days when it's forced. Those days have been happening more and more often lately. But now, his laughter and smiles are real again." She gave him a soft smile before she left._

 _Shanks sat back and thought some more. The kid had looked like he was having the time of his life training with his men. And he did always seem disappointed when Makino sent him home for the night, or when the pirates left a few days ago to explore the surrounding islands a little bit, they only came back to dock here last night._

 _Not long after Makino left to get more food (probably for Luffy and the rest of the crew that would no doubt follow their captain soon enough, the cooks were really strict about not using up their food stores when they were docked at an inhabited island), the bar started filling up with those of his crew that were awake and the least hung-over. In the middle of them was a bouncing, cheering child, who really had way too much energy for his own good._

 _The more he watched, the more he found himself laughing, and teasing the boy right alongside his men. His back was turned, so he missed the fond and knowing look on Benn's face, but Makino didn't. She leaned over to him, and whispered, "Try to remind your captain, you can't keep him." She said with a teasing smile for his captain. Benn sighed and nodded his agreement. He didn't want to keep the boy, the seas were no place for kids. Even Shanks, back when he was on the King's crew, had been a teenager when he joined._

Shanks smiled again. It was hard to believe, that less than a year later, he had willingly given up his arm for that same kid, and thus had to spend months training to get his strength back up to what it was when he was still in possession of two arms. Losing that arm had seriously thrown off his balance, his speed, everything. Luckily, he was fully capable of using both his arms in a fight, so it wasn't like he lost his dominate arm or anything and had to train the other from scratch.

He glanced down at the wanted poster again, he had worried, after they left, that Luffy would go back to being lonely again. Which, was part of why he'd given him Hat, and a promise. To give the boy something to focus on. Of course, that was only a very small part. He'd seen his old captain in the boy, and he knew that Luffy was probably the only one worthy of carrying it. He needed not have worried, though. Since, according to Ace, Garp showed up not long after Shanks left Dawn Island for the last time and dragged Luffy up into the mountains to live with him and the mountain bandits that raised him.

Ace... Roger's boy.

He was destined for great things too. He was Whitebeard's problem now, though. Shanks would watch Luffy's rise, and he would wait. He'd been doing it for ten years, he could wait a little longer.

He would always wait for his little Anchor. That was his promise, after all.


	10. Brook- A New Song

Brook sat in on one of the lounge chairs on deck, sipping his tea and enjoying the feel of the sun on his bones.

He was watching the rest of his new crew go about their days, creating noise, and chaos with almost everything they did, without fail. It was quite amusing, and reminded Brook of his old crew. Mentally, he was rewriting a song he came up with while stuck in the Florian Triangle.

Well, it was more like the only song he'd written. He'd been constantly changing it as he pleased, almost grateful that there hadn't been any paper on board or he would have run out years ago anyway with how often he rewrote this one song. It was something he'd started not long after his soul finally found his body again, only to find bones and then realize that his crew was gone, and it was only him left.

It was supposed to capture the heart of what he'd lost. Supposed to reflect what Nakama meant, what his crew, the Rumbar Pirates really were. They were a crew of musician pirates, but they were more than that. They were family, Nakama, brothers.

Unfortunately, over the years, as time faded memories like it tended to do, he found that every time he thought it was finished, he would play it, and it sounded like it was missing something. So, he spent the better part of fifty years playing music, and writing, and rewriting this one song, trying to get it right. But he just couldn't figure out what it was missing. No matter how he rewrote it, that something was still missing.

He was going to finish this song, especially as he now had an audience to play for again, he wanted to play it for his new crew, for his new Nakama. But he refused to play anything for an audience that was only half-written. Playing around with it, and writing it while somebody was nearby to hear it was one thing. But to just outright play an unfinished piece... If they were the Rumbar Pirates, he could have done that and they would have helped him figure out what was missing, but none of his new crew were musicians. Sadly.

Oh, well. He didn't mind being the only musician on board! If anything, he relished in the challenge of keeping them entertained! Especially with how lively they all were.

He smiled as he watched Luffy run by, being chased by Sanji after he stole some food that was evidently meant for either Nami or Robin. His new Nakama certainly were...

His thoughts trailed off while he considered the word 'Nakama', and what it meant. His mind was turning, he knew he was onto something... something with the song. When he finally figured it out, he felt like he'd been struck by lightning. (He knew what he was talking about, unavoidable, really, when you had somebody like Nami on the ship who could summon lightning at the drop of a hat.)

That was it, Nakama! That was what the song was missing! It wasn't anything to do with the lyrics or melody, it was that it was a song about Nakama, and he'd been playing it on his own! With no Nakama to share it with! He was the problem, he was the one that was missing something!

With a cheerful Yohohoho!, he pulled out his violin and started playing, truly playing in a way that he hadn't really played in years. After all, music wasn't meant to be played just for oneself, locked away. Music was meant to be _shared_.

And that was exactly what he was going to do, he thought as his new Nakama gathered around once they realized he was playing something new. He was going to share this song, for the first time in years, with his new Nakama.


	11. Zeff- Little Eggplant

"Hey, Boss, Chore-boy and his crew got new bounty posters!" Patty said when he came in Zeff's office with that morning's newspaper. "I didn't see one for Sanji, though..." He trailed off, placing the posters on the desk for Zeff to flip through.

"Oh? That's odd, even their pet has a bounty, why would...?" Zeff muttered, until he came to a badly drawn poster and stopped. He spent at least five minutes blinking and staring at the poster from every angle. "Hmm... Patty, look at this one."

"Eh? What about it?" Patty asked, confused. He didn't know who this was. Sure, the name was right, but surely their Sanji wasn't the only person in the entire Five Seas (six if you ask anybody in Paradise or the New World) with the name 'Sanji'?

"Well, the name is right, the moniker would fit with both his fighting style and fashion sense, the eyebrow is even curled..." Zeff said, doubtfully. He wondered if he was trying to find similarities that didn't exist in this picture. Or if somebody was really this horrible of an artist. "And, according to this, this person _is_ a Strawhat." He finished, pointing at the small emblem in the corner that indicated what Jolly Roger this person sailed under, if any.

"Yeah, but with such an impressive bounty, wouldn't they make sure they have a better picture?" Patty was still confused. "I mean, look at the pictures they got of that girl that was with them." He held up Nami's poster. "It looks like they got her to pose like a model! While everyone else is in different fighting poses. Well, except for the pet. Why did they give the pet a bounty?" He was honestly confused on that point.

"Hmm..." Zeff glanced at Chopper's poster. "Could be that the pet isn't a mere pet, but the Marines themselves aren't quite sure what kind of role he fills on the ship." He shrugged and went back to the poster that may or may not be his Lil' Eggplant. "Let me call somebody and ask. Garp should know." He finally muttered. After all, the old Marine had managed to track down Sanji's past way back when they were still recovering from nearly starving on that rock. He never mentioned to Sanji that he knew about Germa 66, and he never questioned why he had been working on that passenger ship in the first place. He figured that who the boys family was, was enough of an explanation on that front.

"Alright, boss. Man, if that is Sanji, I am never going to let him live it down." Patty left, already laughing at the possibility that it was Sanji. He also wanted to let the others know that Sanji might have a bounty already. Of course, he had to explain that they didn't know for sure that it was him because the drawing was so awful. Yes, Carne, drawing. Not picture.

In the meantime, Zeff made his call, and stared at the drawing that he was more and more positive was Sanji. A fond smile crossed his face when he thought of how his boy was doing out there. "Hey, Garp... Yeah, it's me, Zeff. Listen, you might be able to help clear something up for me over here..."

Ten minutes later, he hung up and beamed, staring at the bounty poster in front of him. Yup, it was his Sanji alright. That was a very impressive amount for a first bounty. Not nearly as impressive as Chore-boys had been considering that Sanji had gotten his already half-way through Paradise and Chore-boy got his when he was still in East Blue, but still an impressive amount indeed. And, the lack of a good picture might keep his birth family away for longer. As far as they were concerned, he died years ago, after all.

Smiling, he made his way to the kitchen, the customers were going to get a treat today, he was in a good mood. And when he was in a good mood, there was only one thing he would allow to come from the kitchen, and that was his own food. Using a recipe learned from the Okama Queen of Kamabakaland him/herself.

He knew his boy would make a name for himself, he knew that he could do it.


	12. Zoro- the ASL trio

This ones a little OC, but who cares. This is fanfiction

Besides, I can totally see the ASL brothers doing something like this when they were younger. I mean, they were already beating up thugs and robbing people blind, what's a little more rebellion?

* * *

"Hey, Luffy, what's that?" Zoro asked his new captain. When the young captain took off his vest to wring out all the water after falling in the ocean, _again_ , he didn't expect to see anything like this. Although, he was impressed that such a lean figure could pack so much muscle. Physically, Luffy was as strong, if not stronger, than Zoro himself, but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him.

"Eh? What's what?" Luffy twisted around so he could see his swordsman.

"That tattoo, what's the design, it almost looks like a pirate mark." Zoro was confused, had his captain used to be part of another crew? It was small, and sitting on his right hip-bone, but it had the pirate crossbones. Instead of a skull, though, it was three letters. ASL, all in different colors. It wasn't a design he was familiar with, despite his years bounty hunting. Even though he didn't really see himself as a bounty hunter.

"Ah, oh! That's my and my brothers mark back home. My oldest brother set out on his own journey three years ago, but we might run into him somewhere. Last I heard anything about him, he had a good sized bounty." Luffy shrugged. Then he laughed a little. "Boy, was Dadan mad when the three of us came home one day with tattoo's, I heard that she went and beat up the guy who did them for us, for 'inking up a bunch of kids'." He laughed some more, getting lost in memories.

Zoro had to smile at that, although he couldn't help but notice that Luffy only mentioned where the one brother was, he didn't say anything about the other one, or he was assuming it was just the one other brother, considering there were only three initials on the tattoo. He didn't say anything, though. Instead, he just smiled and hummed at the story. He would find out in time, if and when his new captain was ready to talk about it.

* * *

Zoro blinked when Luffy introduced them all to his older brother.

Fire Fist Ace, huh? Well, this was obviously the 'A' on the tattoo, the tattoo that he was pretty sure he was the only one to have seen so far. Not that Luffy hid it, but at the same time it wasn't like he went around shirtless, not like his brother obviously did.

During the conversation, he, like everyone else on the Going Merry, couldn't help but wonder if these two were really brothers. Ace was way too polite, and considerate.

He got his answer when Ace turned around to jump back on his boat before sailing out to meet the Billions ships, and he saw Ace's own tattoo.

Small, and on his right hip bone, right where Luffy's was. Of course, it was still pretty clear which mark he sailed under, since the Whitebeard mark was so huge. It covered up his entire back! He felt like he had an answer about the brother the 'S' belonged to when he saw the crossed off 'S' on Ace's tattoo going down his arm. So, the other brother had died? Or something happened to him where he was unable to be with them.

He would figure it out eventually, but he still wasn't about to pry. He'd told himself months ago, even just after he joined Luffy, that he wouldn't pry.

Later on, when they were in the desert, Zoro and Ace were the only ones awake, and he asked him how old they were. He figured that was a nice, innocent question.

"How old for what?" Ace asked, confused.

"When you and Luffy got your tattoos."

"Ah." Ace laughed quietly. "He was seven, we were ten. Dadan was NOT happy with us... neither was Gramps, come to think of it. And the artist we went to left the island almost the next day, sadly. He was a nice guy, I hope he managed to set up again somewhere else."

"What kind of ten and seven year olds go out and get a tattoo?" Zoro asked, shocked. He knew Luffy had been young when he got it, but he had been thinking more along the lines of him being at least thirteen, not seven! He once again ignored the brief mention of the third brother.

Ace cleared his throat and glanced at Luffy fondly. "The kind of kids who were raised by mountain bandits and an old marine trying to force them to be law-abiding Marines themselves." He smirked wryly and glanced at Zoro challengingly. "Also, the kind of kids who were inseparable and wanted something to sort of symbolize that. The idea was, that no matter what flags we sailed under when we were older, we would still be ASL. The Terrors of Mt. Corbo." He smirked again in fond remembrance.

"Terrors, huh?" Zoro grunted and glanced at Luffy. His lovable idiot of a captain. "Yeah, I can see that." He grumbled.

* * *

Zoro stared at the blond claiming to be Luffy's older brother Sabo. Well, the first initial fit... but...

"Show it to me." He demanded.

Sabo looked at him, confused. Show him what?

"Your tattoo. If you are really his brother, than you will have the tattoo." Zoro clarified.

Sabo's face lit up in understanding, and he grinned wryly, but at the same time seemed thankful. He was happy that Luffy had found somebody who was so protective and loyal, it was good that Zoro wasn't taking his word for it. He nodded and took off his jacket before pulling up his shirt, revealing his right hip bone, the same place that all three brothers put theirs. For the longest time, ten years, he'd seen this tattoo, and tried to remember where he got it, tried to remember what it meant.

Until two years ago, when he got his memories back after reading about Ace's execution.

He noticed the rest of the Strawhats that were awake in the room look confused about how Zoro knew he had a tattoo, and what exactly Zoro was talking about. Why would him having that tattoo prove that he was who he said he was? Nami was the only one who remembered seeing that same tattoo on Ace, and if Chopper were here, he would have recognized it as the same tattoo Luffy had.

Zoro noticed everyone's looks. "Don't tell me none of you have seen Luffy's tattoo." He deadpanned.

"Luffy has a tattoo?" Franky asked, shocked.

Zoro just sighed in exasperation and drank some more. How was it that they all shared a room, in a ship where there was only so far to roam, for over a year now (he's not going to count the two years they were separated, even though they've been a crew for a little over three), and he and Chopper were the only ones who knew Luffy had a tattoo. This was ridiculous.

"Well, when did you find out?" Franky demanded defensively.

"About two days after I met him." Zoro deadpanned again, causing Franky to sulk and Robin to start laughing quietly while Sabo tried to hide his grin.

Zoro sighed then, "Well, I suppose this does explain a few things." He muttered. When he noticed the curious look on Sabo's face, he shrugged. "When I asked Luffy about it after I first saw it, he implied that he had two brothers, but only mentioned one, Ace. Then, when I asked Ace a little bit more about it, he also said that there were three of you, but didn't mention what happened to you." He grimaced. "Although, I figured it was either a huge fight, or you died, since Ace mentioned how you three were inseparable."

"Ah, yes, they did think I died. Luffy told me that Dogra saw my boat be shot down, and since he didn't see me swim to shore afterward, or show up at the bandits hideout later on, they assumed I'd been killed in the explosion." Sabo explained with a grimace of his own. He was forever grateful to Dragon for having him pulled out of the wreckage.

They were silent for a moment before Robin asked Sabo what he was even doing there, and Zoro could only grip his swords when CP0 was mentioned, and after Sabo left, it was decided that they would leave as soon as everyone else was awake. Or, rather, as soon as enough people were awake that the rest could be carried back to the ship in one trip.

The whole time, he was thinking about how he wished he had brothers like that.


	13. You're Strong, Luffy

**This is AU. Slightly.**

 **The War at Marineford never happened, Thatch never died. Teach mistimed and tried to kill Thatch just as Whitebeard decided to go for a midnight stroll, so he ultimately failed and was executed (Whitebeard style) for his betrayal after his tattoo was painfully removed via Ace. To add insult to injury, the fight that followed Whitebeard discovering him, led to Thatch accidentally eating the Fruit that Teach was about to kill him over.**

 **Ace still met up with Luffy in Alabasta, because he wanted to see his little brother when he entered the Grand Line, but got to the entrance by Reverse Mountain too late, so ended up having to chase him down. Ace assisted with Baroque Works just for the sake of fighting with his brother again, but stayed in the background so Luffy got the credit he deserved. The Marines knew he was in Alabasta, but put it down as coincidence.**

 **After Enies Lobby and leaving Water 7, Luffy was forced to accept an offer from Whitebeard about forming an Alliance with the understanding that the Strawhats would be continuing their bid for the Crown, after Blackbeard's crew showed up and brought Akainu with them in an attempt to take revenge on the Whitebeard's. The Strawhats barely escaped and Zoro and Nami called Whitebeard using the number provided by Ace while Luffy recovered to let them (Ace) know what happened, and the offer was extended.**

 **The events of Sabaody happened mostly as cannon, and Rayleigh was impressed enough to find Luffy at Amazon Lily and offer to train him, then they created an event so Luffy could be in the papers with the message for his crew to wait two years and train somewhere. Boa Hancock still expresses her undying love for Luffy and is always going to say she wants to marry him.**

 **When Robin was taken in by the Revolutionaries during the two years, she managed to trigger Sabo's memories when she was telling a story about one of the crazier adventures that Luffy dragged them all on. He then went to find Ace, and almost got killed for being an impostor before he managed to convince Ace that he was really Sabo.**

 **Obviously since the War never happened and Whitebeard is still alive, Fishman Island never had to deal with Big Mom and there was no rebellion by Hody and his men, but the Strawhats did still have to fight their way through after a misunderstanding, because they can't seem to go anywhere without getting into a major fight or uncovering a conspiracy about something. However, Jimbei came and bailed them out, since he knew who they were and that they were allied, however loosely, with Whitebeard.**

 **Ok, enough of that stuff, on with it!**

Thatch was moping. He'd been trying to figure out a new trick he'd thought of with his Devil Fruit, but he just couldn't get it to work. After he ate his Fruit, all other Hammers on the _Moby_ offered to help him figure it out and train with it, but in the end he'd ended up having to figure it out himself, since they couldn't even figure out if the Dark-Dark Fruit was supposed to be a Logia or a Paramecia. None of the books they got their hands on could seem to figure that out, either. A creative Paramecia user can do almost anything and everything with their Fruit, almost instinctively. A Logia can almost do the same after they figure out how to initially control it. But his Fruit wasn't like that at all.

It was almost like it was fighting him, like it didn't want to let him wield it. At least not without a fight.

The sad part was, he'd had this Fruit for a little over two years now. He had some basic control over it, sure. But he knew that he was capable of more with it, he knew that he wasn't using it to its full potential. And that was frustrating, because he felt like, if he couldn't fight with everything he had, then he couldn't protect his family properly. Sure, he protected his family just fine without it, but now that he _had it_ , it was valuable asset towards protecting them even better.

That, and the Fruit was part of him now. Not being able to fully utilize it was like only using three limbs with the fourth barely functioning. Like trying to cut frozen butter with a blunt knife.

He was brought out of his moping by everyone's favorite fire-brained idiot and Commander, Ace. "Hey, Thatch! What's up, man? You alright?" Whatever Ace had come over to say died on his lips when he saw how his older brother was acting.

"Yeah, yeah..." He muttered, "It's this dumb Fruit of mine." He grumbled.

Ace winced. Everyone was well aware of the difficulties their brother had in truly mastering it. Then he got an idea. "Well, I have something that may help. Jimbei just called from Fishman Island, my kid brother just passed through. He's almost here." Ace said, excited. The Whitebeards had been camped out here, close to the area where ships usually came up from below, for a week now. Waiting to finally meet their youngest allied crew for the first time... and also because they all knew that Ace would not shut up, _ever_ if they weren't here. They'd been provided with a basic timeline by Rayleigh when to expect the Strawhats so they could be in position, and they'd arrived right about when the newspapers exploded with the news of the Strawhats return to the world... starting with their rapid beat-down of an impostor crew on Sabaody.

"How is that supposed to help with my Fruit?" Thatch asked dryly.

Ace grinned. "Simple, he's got that woman, Nico Robin with him, doesn't he? Isn't she from that island that used to be known for it's scholars or whatever? Before the Marines destroyed it."

"Ohara?" Thatch asked, looking thoughtful.

"Yeah, that. She might know all kinds of history surrounding your Fruit. The kind of stuff that the World Government wouldn't allow to be printed out in books that the general public has access to. I mean, didn't they destroy the island because the scholars had information that they forbade?" He'd heard about it from Sabo last time he visited. And if that hadn't been a shock... to find his brother alive... He still couldn't believe it, he only hoped that Sabo and Luffy could meet up soon. Well, at least he would be able to tell Luffy when he got here. Luffy hadn't had access to a Transponder Snail during his training, except when one of his crew managed to get a call through to Amazon Lily and they brought the Snail to him, of course.

"Hey, yeah... she just might know some legends or something surrounding my Fruit..." Thatch agreed thoughtfully. Then he glanced at Ace, surprised but knowing he really shouldn't be. "Since when did you get so smart?" He teased.

Ace scowled, "Hey! I am smart! You don't have to be so surprised!" He yelled, attracting laughter from everyone nearby who heard his outburst.

Thatch grinned, "Sure, Ace, sure. Well," He stood up and stretched. "If your kid brother is on his way, I best go and get food on... if he eats at all like you..." He trailed off, already heading back to the kitchen to whip up the party feast. Because everyone knew that there was going to be a party.

Ace pouted behind him. "I am smart." He groused, tracing a pattern in the deck planks between his feet for a few minutes before he bounced back and sauntered off somewhere. He had a welcoming to plan. He just wished Sabo could be here, but he was on a mission at the moment for the Army.

And, no, he didn't know what the mission was, it was top secret. Like, the kind that could completely destroy everything the Army had worked towards for years if the wrong people heard about it, secret. It could be quite annoying to both boys, considering that in all the years they knew each other, they _never_ kept secrets from each other. Sabo had known about Ace's father almost since the beginning, and Ace knew about Sabo's parents... eventually. But Sabo's job was, sometimes literally, keeping secrets. Dragon even specified, to keep them _especially_ from Ace and Luffy. Plausible deniability, and all that.

* * *

It was another two hours before the sea finally bubbled up and a ships mast started appearing. One of the lookouts yelled, and the Whitebeards rushed to the sides of the side of the ship to watch, Ace eagerly leading the way. When the ship finally finished surfacing, the Whitebeard's were treated to Luffy's delighted laughs at seeing his brother front and center, and the, ah... more easily panicked Strawhats screams and shouts of horror and doom. While the more collected Strawhats just stood there and watched, commenting amongst themselves.

It didn't take long for Zoro to have enough of Usopp's panicking, especially since Nami and Chopper calmed down pretty quick once they recognized Ace. The Strawhats and Whitebeard's were now watching Usopp running around screaming... although the doctor's of the _Moby_ were wondering what in the Four Blues 'I-can't-continue-on-in-the-New-World-itis was. Seriously? A few of the Whitebeard's were taking bets on how long Usopp could go before he was either stopped or realized he was making a fool of himself, while Luffy was laughing his head off while sitting on the railing of the _Moby_ next to Ace.

There were a few grumbles and Beli exchanged hands when Zoro finally took a sheathed Shusui and knocked Usopp out with it, much to Chopper's dismay. "Every time we go somewhere new. When is he going to grow a pair?" He muttered, annoyed. Naturally, everyone on the other ship heard him and he earned some laughter. He ignored Chopper's lecture (the Whitebeard's didn't quite know what to make of the little reindeer yet) and glared at Usopp while Sanji came out of the kitchen, a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of rum that quickly got tossed to the swordsman in the other.

"He wouldn't be Usopp if he wasn't in a panic over something. You know this." He commented dryly. Zoro just grunted and took a swig, going back to his spot by the mast and sitting back down, watching the Whitebeard's carefully. Everyone could see that, despite his relaxed posture, he was anything but relaxed. He was ready to jump into a fight at any moment. He probably would remain that way until his captain said otherwise.

Sanji's comment got some more laughter, then everyone turned their attention to the Strawhatted captain, who had transferred himself from the ships railing to Ace's back like a monkey. "Chopper!" He called to his doctor. When he had his attention, he laughed and said, "He gonna be ok?"

Chopper nodded. "Yeah, as long as he doesn't get hit in the head by anymore sword sheathes!" He said with a glare at Zoro, who just lazily raised his bottle in his direction.

"Then just put him inside for a while. He can join us when he wakes up." Luffy ordered. Chopper gave his agreement and transformed into Heavy Point to carry him, to the Whitebeard's amazement.

"Uh, what is he?" Thatch asked Luffy, confused.

"Eh? Chopper is Chopper." Luffy answered. To everyone's confusion. Yes, they knew his name, that wasn't what Thatch asked. Ace just sighed and was about to answer but somebody else did first.

Robin cleared her throat. "Chopper is a reindeer from what used to be Drum Kingdom that ate the Human-Human Fruit. He is also our ships doctor." The archaeologist said with a fond grin in the direction Chopper went.

It was then that Whitebeard himself finally made himself known. "Gurararara! You kids have spunk, I'll give you that." He said from his chair, where he'd stayed, knowing that the Strawhat brat would end up being dragged before him by Ace eventually. Nami squeaked in shock, despite the fact that she'd spoken with Whitebeard before, that was over Transponder Snails. Now, he was right there. She still remembered that conversation vividly. They hadn't wanted to, something like that was really Luffy's job, but he was out. And they needed to know. As First Mate, Zoro was charge until Luffy was back with them, and he said that they needed to do it, but...

 _"Are you sure about this?" She asked Zoro, nervously. She knew that Luffy would not be happy about this when he woke up and found out. He would see it as crying for help when they could handle it just fine. Worse, calling for help from his_ big brother _. Who he was ultimately trying to prove himself to, in the end. Ace and Shanks, both._

 _"Yes. Nami, I am sure. They need to know about this. Blackbeard was a traitor to his crew, and now Blackbeard's old crew are coming after us, why I don't know, but they went and brought an_ Admiral _with them. Worse, they_ Admiral Akainu _with them. And you heard what Akainu said, about Luffy's father. And then about Ace's." Zoro pointed out everything she already knew. "We can't handle this one on our own."_

 _"But, if we call Garp, he's well respected... he's a Marine war-hero! Surely he can rein Akainu in." She argued again. She knew that would hardly be any better, but that way held the least chance of Luffy finding out they called for help._

 _"Nami!" Zoro growled. It wasn't often he exerted his authority on the ship, but he was close to doing it now. "Garp probably already knows all about Akainu being after us." He said. Then he sighed. "Look, I don't like it either, but Chopper was barely able to save him. If we call them, get their support, it should make even Akainu back off. We might be able to escape him again, we might not. I'd rather not chance it. Especially with the captain out._ _His Devil Fruit speeds up his healing by a lot, but not even Chopper can be sure when he'll be up again. And I don't like what that one lady was saying back in Water 7 about this Triangle place. We need to be able to continue on without worrying about somebody like Akainu being after us." He explained again, impatiently. He was annoyed, he was exhausted, and he was still in pain from the magma burns littering his body._

 _Chopper didn't know he was injured yet, he'd had Nami patch him up so Chopper could focus on their captain. He knew the little doctor would have a fit later and probably give him five different lectures, but at the moment he didn't care. He needed to keep their ship moving and get his crew somewhere safe, and ensure their continued safety. And, like he pointed out, Blackbeard was a traitor to Whitebeard. The fact that Blackbeard's crew was coming after_ them _in retaliation for their captain's execution at Whitebeard's hands... he did not like this. He didn't like this at all. Unless they were trying to use Luffy to get revenge on Ace for his part in all of it..._

 _Nami swallowed, but finally conceded the point and reached over to start dialing the number to the_ Moby Dick _. Hopefully Ace would already be back there and they could speak with him real quick, let him know how his little brother was doing and reassure him that Luffy would be alright... before the newspapers printed some bull about Strawhat Luffy being dead. Which they probably would because Akainu wouldn't believe in a million years that he survived a magma fist to the chest. Chopper said that their saving grace had been two things,_

 _1) the fist didn't punch_ through _Luffy's chest. Luffy managed to dodge that much._

 _2) Robin was able to sprout as many arms as possible and had been able to assist him in the surgery and hand him things, hold things closed to keep the bleeding down, and do about a dozen other things all at once that Chopper just would not have been able to do in any kind of timely fashion that would have enabled him to save his captain, his friend..._

 _They'd used up all the stored blood on the ship, as well as most of their medicine and other essential supplies. They were going to have to each donate blood, once they were sure the danger had passed and they had a few days to relax and let their bodies get back into a normal rhythm after the battle adrenaline wore off. That still wouldn't be enough for the doctor's liking though, but he would just have to make due until they found an island, or another pirate ship to plunder. Chopper didn't like raiding other ships Infirmaries, it went against every doctor's instinct in his body, but they were going to need to get more supplies from somewhere._

 _Luckily, they grew a few herbs on the ship that Chopper would be able to make some of his more basic remedies out of. Like the burn salve... they'd used a lot of that, she needed to remember to go harvest some of the Aloe after this so Chopper could start making more. She knew for a fact that Zoro wasn't the only one that got burned by the Magma. Sanji's legs got burned pretty badly, he was in the kitchen making food to get them their strength back through sheer force of will, she was sure._

 _She held her breath when the line stopped ringing. "Hello?" A bored voice finally asked from the other end, matching the bored look the Snail adopted. She glanced at Zoro and gestured for him to go ahead. This was his idea. He scowled. "Hello?" The voice asked again._

 _Zoro cleared his throat. "Yeah, hi. We are the Strawhat pirates... can we speak with Ace?" He asked, deciding to get that conversation over with first, if he could._

 _The voice and Snail perked up a little bit, "Ace's little brother?" It asked in surprise, obviously assuming that was who he was talking to._

 _Zoro winced, and knew that it was seen on the other end. "Ah... no. I'm Zoro." He cleared his throat again, and asked almost desperately. "Is Ace there?"_

 _The voice was silent for a few moments, before finally answering. "No, he's not back yet. We can take a message and have him get back to you when he is here." They said cautiously._

 _Nami and Zoro both flinched. "He's going to flip when this comes out in the papers." Nami said with a groan._

 _Zoro nodded with a sigh and reached for the rum sitting beside him, "Let's just hope he doesn't try something stupid like hunting Akainu down for this..." He said, and the Snail visibly tensed as the Whitebeard on the other end tensed. Zoro ignored that for a moment. "Alright, alright, we'll have to leave Ace to Whitebeard to deal with... I'm sure they can contact Ace themselves later and make sure he doesn't act stupid." He said with a decisive nod and ignored Nami's snort at the thought, man he just wanted to go sleep for a week. That wasn't going to happen until he knew they were all safe, though. "If Ace isn't available, can we speak with Whitebeard? It's urgent." He requested, his voice strained._

 _There was more silence for a moment, unknown to the two Strawhats, they'd called Marco's personal Transponder. Only the Commander's had that number, well, until now. Also unknown to the Strawhats, they called in the middle of a Commander's meeting, with all the commanders and the captain there. So when they commented about Ace losing it when he read the papers... and the fact that it wasn't Luffy calling, but rather some of his crew on his behalf... and it was clear that this Zoro was very stressed right now. Something was very, very wrong right now. Haruta quickly went through the folder of bounties he kept on hand at all times and rifled through it to find Zoro's as soon as he identified himself._

 _All the Strawhats bounties were on the very top, since they'd only been updated a few days ago. Once he found it, he passed it and the old one along to Marco and Pops, who both looked at them in interest. 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro... He was worth a good amount, the first one was sizable, too. While the more recent one was a fairly large increase. He was also listed as the First Mate. They were instantly worried. For the First Mate to be calling like this... and from his comments about Ace not being happy... Luffy was hurt. Badly. Hurt._

 _Finally, Whitebeard turned the Snail on the table to face him and delicately picked up the receiver. "What's wrong, brat?" He asked, concerned._

 _Zoro scoffed. "What isn't wrong, right now?" He asked sarcastically. Then he sighed. "We were attacked. Blackbeard's... Teach's- crew, working together with Admiral Akainu." He could practically feel the shock and tension through the Snail from the_ Moby. _"Don't ask me how we escaped, because I don't know." He said, tired. "We're out of medical supplies, we don't know when Luffy will wake up... and chances are that Strawhat Luffy's 'death' will be all over the papers in the next few days. He's not dead, Chopper says he'll make it, but... Ace will read about him being dead, and..."  
_

 _"Yes, that will send him on a rampage." Whitebeard muttered, worried. He watched as Haruta grabbed his own Snail and started trying to reach Ace._

 _"Right. Well, anyway." Zoro said, taking a moment to collect himself. The past day was stressful, and he just wanted to go sleep. "The best I can figure for the Blackbeard Pirates coming after us, is that they want to get revenge on Ace by getting rid of Luffy. Publicly. As for the Marine, well, at first, Akainu was trying to capture." He sighed, "He knew who Luffy's father is. He said they were going to hold a public execution, and hopefully draw his father out. He said that with any luck, Ace would also be drawn out, which would then possibly draw you out... hoping to get rid of four threats to the World Government all at once."_

 _"Four threats?" Whitebeard asked, suspiciously. As far as he was concerned, there should only be one big threat they should be hoping to eliminate with the public execution of Strawhat Luffy. Him._

 _Zoro was silent for a moment. Debating. Finally, he said, "Luffy's father is Dragon. The Leader of the Revolutionary Army." There was a choked silence on the other end. "Akainu knows, which means the Fleet Admiral knows, and there will only be so much Garp can do at this point, although the Fleet Admiral probably knew all along considering Luffy's big mouth... He had to get it from somewhere." He muttered before he got back on track. "And, Akainu made hints towards who Ace's father is."_

 _"His birth father, because obviously your his father now... I'm just going to be quiet." Nami said, shrinking back._

 _Finally, Haruta spoke. "If they were to hold a public execution of Luffy, they would be hoping that the Revolutionaries would come to save him. That would give the Marines a chance to set a trap, and it would be their opportunity to wipe the Army out for good, or at least cripple them so they would take a long time to rebuild, if they could. And we all know that Ace would jump into the mess to save his baby brother... I don't know who Ace's father is, it's never been important to us, but if they want Ace dead just for that... And, of course, if Ace goes to war, so do we." The Intelligence Division Commander summed up. If Strawhat hadn't escaped... it would be a bad situation all around._

 _"You said you were out of medical supplies?" Marco decided to focus on the Strawhats current status, so he could figure out just how badly they came out of the fight, because they were right. If Strawhat Luffy were captured, Ace would put himself in danger to rescue him, and then the rest of the Whitebeard's would go to war to save_ him _. "Where are you guys at?"_

 _Nami answered. "According to Granny Kokoro, we should be reaching the Florian Triangle in a few days. She said there was no way to avoid it, of course I would rather go back to Water 7 right now, but the Log is already set and we don't have an Eternal Pose." The Commanders collectively winced. She would have bought one, having an Eternal Pose to somewhere crawling with shipwrights like that could only be a good thing, but then Luffy spent all the money they had left on meat for that city-wide party they unwittingly threw. She supposed they did have one to Alabasta, but that was so far away..._

 _"A lot of our food got destroyed, too." Zoro muttered. Thatch grew worried. No food... that was the worst thing to ever happen on the seas._

 _"The Florian Triangle..." Haruta mused. "Be careful around there, that's a Warlord's territory. Although there have always been strange legends in that area even before Gecko Moriah claimed it as his haunting grounds."_

 _Nami snorted. "The Warlord part we didn't know, but Robin has been regaling us with those legends since before we left Water 7."_

 _"An Admiral on your tail, your captain is down, no medical supplies or food, and heading straight for the Florian Triangle." Thatch said with a wince. "If I remember right, the nearest island is, what? Sabaody?" He asked around the table._

 _"Yeah, it's at least a two week sail from Water 7, going through the Triangle." Both Strawhats groaned and banged their heads against the table in front of them. "Your best bet on supplies is to find a dead ship in the Triangle and raid it. There should be plenty around, between the origin of the legends and Moriah." Haruta confirmed._

 _"Yeah, that's what we were thinking." Zoro said and reached for his rum again, but he moved too fast and hissed when he stretched his burns._

 _"Hey, take it easy! You got burned really bad, and I'm no doctor so my patch job isn't going to handle you moving around too much, I still say you should just go to Chopper." Nami admonished._

 _Zoro grunted. "Chopper's busy taking care of Luffy, he's the worst off." He said through gritted teeth._

 _"No more medical supplies, and still untreated injuries." Marco summed up the rest of the situation. That wasn't good._

 _"Yeah." Nami said with a sigh. "Luckily we grow some medical herbs and stuff ourselves, so it won't take Chopper long to make more of some of it, but I don't know if we have enough. And if Akainu is still chasing us and catches up..."_

 _"The_ Sunny _took some pretty heavy damage, too. Franky is already fixing her up, but still. I think he used up most of the Cola, so I don't think we can make another escape like that, either." Zoro finished summing up the situation. The Commanders were confused, wondering what Cola had to do with it, but put it off as a quirk of their ships design put there by the shipwright who built it._

 _"How about, if I extend an offer for a protection alliance?" Whitebeard finally asked. They didn't have any allies in the area that they could send to help, either with medical supplies, or to take them to one of Whitebeard's hidden islands there in Paradise to rest and recover. At this point, a protection alliance was the only thing he could offer to try and keep the young upstart captain and his crew safe. Because they were right. If Luffy was captured, or about to be executed, Ace would run to save him. If he was captured, then the Whitebeard's would be running to save him, or them both, depending. The risk of his crew, his family, being wiped out, was too great to ignore. But, if they claimed the brat and his crew now, it combined with the knowledge of his father, should be enough to make Sengoku back off. At least while the brat was still in Paradise._

 _(Because, right now, there was no guarantee that Whitebeard would show up to the fight. The risk was still minimal. He would probably send a division or two with a few commanders, but for the most part once he heard about the Revolutionary part, there was every chance that he would just focus on keeping Ace safe and letting Dragon take care of his own son. If he claimed the brat, then it would be too big of a risk, having to fight off both the Army and the Whitebeard's at the same time. Plus, from what Ace said, the brat had a connection to Shanks, as well. Not that the Marines would know that, of course. It would be too risky, to continue going after the Strawhats.)_

 _Marine presence in the New World was almost non-existent. Only the older Vice-Admirals and a few bases were out here, these were almost entirely pirate ruled waters. Once the Strawhats were here, they would become just another strong crew sailing the seas, there would be next to nothing the Marines could do about it short of sending all three Admirals after them, which would put them at war with all four Yonko. It was an unspoken rule of the New World. It may be pirate against pirate, but in the end it was always pirate against Marine. No matter what colors you sailed under._

 _He didn't like making this offer to the First Mate like this, when the Captain wasn't even around, but the Captain was down and they were probably being hunted. There was no time._

 _There was silence on the other end. "Nami, go have Robin start getting together everything she knows about Gecko Moriah. She should know quite a bit since she used to work under Crocodile." He said, "And then make sure Sanji isn't overdoing it, his legs got burned pretty bad. Get yourself looked at, too." He waited for her to leave before he spoke. "Luffy isn't going to be happy about me accepting your offer, but I don't see what choice I have at the moment. Things got really heated, really fast, and we're not ready for it yet. He's just going to have to take it up with you later, when he wakes up."_

 _The Whitebeard's couldn't help but notice that he kept on repeating 'when he wakes up'. Like he had to keep saying that so he could keep going. That alone told them that the injuries were pretty severe. Their respect for him increased just from hearing his worry, and the lengths he was going to ensure their safety._

 _"Alright, once he wakes up, call back and we can discuss details then." Whitebeard said with a nod._

 _"Just, how badly is your captain injured?" Izo asked, not sure if he wanted to know._

 _Zoro huffed. "Idiot took a magma fist to the chest, jumped right in front of Sanji when the cook went down." Their estimation of Strawhat Luffy went up, even as they were horrified that he took an attack like that, they were happy that he was that kind of captain. "Anyway, the heat melted his chest, Chopper said it nicked his heart, got part of his lungs, shattered his collarbone and almost made paste out of a few ribs. I don't even know how that one happened, he's rubber. Blunt force doesn't work on him, and heat doesn't shatter things like that, it would have melted first." Zoro said in frustration. He didn't like not knowing something like that. Because if they didn't know, then Luffy couldn't defend against it._

 _"Haki." Marco said absently, reeling over the fact that Luffy survived something like this. He could see why Akainu would assume him dead, why the papers would write about his death. To survive an attack like that... Kid had a will to survive, and a good doctor._

 _"Haki? What's that?" Zoro asked, curious._

 _"It's what Akainu used to negate Luffy's Fruit. It's a manifestation of a person's will, there are three different forms of it. He would have used Armament. Among other things, this form allows Fruit's to be bypassed, Logia's suddenly become solid so they can be hit, blunt force will work where it never did before, and so on. If your Haki is stronger than your opponents though, then it wouldn't matter that they had it too, then you can continue on as normal... you and your crew might want to look into learning it before you reach the New World. It's pretty common here." Marco explained._

 _"Go to Shakky's Rip-off Bar in Grove 13 on Sabaody. Speak to Rayleigh, he can help you get started." Whitebeard instructed._

 _"Ok, yeah, I'll do that." Zoro said, writing the information down real quick so he didn't forget. This was too important. Nami came in when he was done. "So, basically it acts like Sea-stone for a Fruit user." He clarified, thinking it over a bit more._

 _"Basically, that's one way of thinking about it." Marco confirmed. Zoro cursed tiredly._

 _Nami chose that moment to speak up. "Robin is looking at everything she has on... well, everyone. I didn't even know she had those files... she's kind of scary sometimes, you know that? And, Sanji was more injured than we thought, the idiot being up and cooking did nothing to help. Chopper said that if he doesn't stay off his legs, then he might lose the ability to fight. And... he's looking at permanent nerve damage in his hand. Robin and I will take up the slack in the kitchen while he recovers." Zoro winced._

 _"Alright, has he been confined to the Infirmary yet?" He asked._

 _"Already done, Usopp was dragging an extra bed in there last I saw. You know that if we run into Moriah, we're going to need him to fight. You, Luffy, and Sanji are our main fighters. The rest of us can hold our own, but we're more small-fry while you guys take out the main opponents." She said, worried._

 _"I know." He sighed in frustration. "I would say drop anchor here and we'll wait, but we don't have the supplies, and we don't know if they followed us. We'll deal with it as it happens. We still have a few days before we reach the Triangle, Chopper said Luffy should be awake by then. We'll see how mobile he is." He turned to the snail, "Thank you, for your help, but I better get back to work." He said._

 _"No problem, brat. Go take care of your people." Whitebeard said quietly. Zoro nodded and hung up._

 _"Listen, every ship we come across from here to Sabaody, I want you and Usopp to sneak aboard and rob them blind. Food, medical supplies, treasure, all of it. If it's not bolted down, take it. I'll cover you with Franky from the outside. If we come across a dead ship in the Triangle, find whatever you can on board and take it too, I'll have Franky in charge of salvaging wood and such. Normally I would leave the food and medical supplies alone, but that attack destroyed the refrigerator, and everything in it. All we have left when I checked earlier is non-perishables, and you know how little Sanji buys that's not fresh produce and meats. I don't know how intact Sanji's backup stash is, either. The medical supplies is explanatory._ _I would say that we would have gathered enough food after the first few ships, but you know how Luffy eats when he's injured._ _" Nami nodded her agreement._

 _"It's been a while since I've had to be a sneak thief... don't worry. Leave it all to me." She smiled reassuringly. "I'll go check the back-up stash. I know where it is. But first, let me check those burns. Chopper whipped up some more burn salve before he checked Sanji's wounds." He sighed and turned around so she could look. The backup stash was more like the stash-for-when-Luffy-gets-in-the-main-supplies-and-eats-it-all._

 _It was mostly dried meats and fruits, powdered milk, stuff like that that would keep for a long time. It would tide them over until they got fresh supplies though._

 _By the time they reached Sabaody, it was all over the papers that Whitebeard's crew had rounded up and gotten rid of several small-time pirates, leaving the world to wonder just what those pirates did to earn that kind of attention. Very few outside the Whitebeard crew would ever know that those pirates were the crew-mates of the Traitor Marshall D. Teach. Even fewer would know that those men were trying to drag the Whitebeard's into a three way war between themselves, the Marines, and the Revolutionary Army. By using the younger brother of Second Division Commander Fire-Fist Ace._

Nami pulled herself out of her thoughts when Zoro got up to go follow his captain to see Whitebeard. She motioned for the others to stay on the _Sunny_ while she followed. There were some murmurs when the Whitebeard's got a better look at the Strawhats, all of them were sporting massive burn scars somewhere, others more visible than most, with Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and Luffy being the most visible. Of the crew, only Brooke wasn't burned somewhere, since he wasn't part of the crew yet. (Of course the Whitebeard's all knew about the attack by Akainu, and how they managed to escape. They'd all been made aware that the Traitor had a crew of his own and they'd tried to drag them into a war.)

Sanji's hand looked like somebody tried to burn it off, no amount of scar creams created by Chopper was ever going to change that, although it used to look much worse than it did now. He was lucky he was ambidextrous, or he would have had to take a few weeks to teach himself how to wield a kitchen knife again. He was even luckier he was still able to cook at all, the nerve damage ended up not being as bad as Chopper had feared, to everyone's relief.

Zoro openly displayed his scars with an open shirt with the sleeves cut off. Nami's scars were on her face and back, they were fully visible with her bikini top and jeans. And Luffy... one massive X right in the center of his chest.

His other burns didn't scar by nature of his fruit, they weren't as bad as that one was. The others got off lighter because they'd been fighting off Blackbeard's crew while the three strongest held off the Admiral. Nami only got it as bad as she did because she was the first one targeted, and she barely managed to get out of the way in time.

They had barely managed to fight Moriah off with the injuries they were already sporting. They only managed it because the Whitebeard's had alerted them that they might be facing him, so Robin was able to study all the information she had on him and come up with a way to counter him. Then Brooke noticed their injuries and told them about the salt right from the very beginning, so they could have more of a fighting chance if they ran into him.

So they all went on Thriller Bark armed with a bucket's worth of salt hidden somewhere on their person. This way, none of them lost their shadows, because they didn't bother to fight the zombies, they just outright purified them. The only straight up fight any of them really had with a zombie was between Zoro and the swordsman, Ryuma. And then, because they purified so many zombies like they did, Moriah didn't have as many shadows come to answer his call when he tried to absorb them all, especially since so many of the shadows found their owners in the Victims Association. And none of them were captured for him to steal their shadows and give it to Oars, like he'd been wanting to do with Luffy's.

Of course, the fight was still hard, and they only barely managed it despite the fact that it could have gone so much worse. Kuma showing up after it and almost capturing Luffy had not been welcome, either. Especially so soon after the run-in with Akainu the week before. He must not have gotten the memo yet about their alliance with Whitebeard. She still had no idea what happened between Kuma and Zoro, for Zoro to come out of it looking all torn to shreds. Sanji and Robin knew, but they weren't telling.

Even more luckily, they managed to come out of that with all the treasure on board Thriller Bark, plus all the food and medical supplies they could fit on the _Sunny_. (They even made off with the refrigerator, although the one they got from Thriller Bark wasn't as good as the one Franky had originally provided, but he was able to make improvements. He would have built a new one from scratch, but he didn't have the time with making repairs, nor the supplies to spare.)

They then took a couple of smaller boats from the Rumbar Pirates ship, and fit more supplies on them before sticking them in the _Sunny's_ docking system. While putting still more supplies on the craft they already had in the dock. Despite the fact that Franky didn't want to show them yet, he'd wanted to surprise them with it. They did _not_ want to risk running out of supplies again.

He was just lucky he'd managed to put her waver back the way it was. She was not happy that he'd 'improved' it. She didn't want it improved, she liked it the way it was, thank you. He then remade his 'improved' waver out of scraps.

"So, you're Ace's little brother." Whitebeard said, looking Luffy over. He still marveled how the brat survived the injuries he did, with the limited supplies they had, and only one doctor who could only do much all at once. He absently thought that it wasn't everyday a captain came before him while riding on his older brothers back like a monkey.

Luffy said nothing for a moment, just stared at him, and Whitebeard let him. Although he noticed that Zoro was standing behind him, with his hand on his swords. Finally, Luffy glanced at Ace, and seemed to have reached a decision, because he treated Whitebeard to a wide smile, and said, "Thank you for taking care of Ace and giving him a home!" Basically ignoring Whitebeard's initial question. Luffy had decided that he would try to avoid challenging Whitebeard today, Whitebeard had done a lot for them two years ago, and he'd done a lot for Ace, too. He could challenge him when they were leaving.

"Luffy!" Ace muttered, face going red, Luffy just laughed at him, along with all the other Whitebeard's. Whitebeard himself just smirked and turned to study Nami and Zoro. The two who called him and requested his protection on behalf of their captain, who had not been happy when he found out, but accepted it as the best course of action they had to them at that time.

"The rest of your crew can come aboard, it would be difficult for them to party from way over there." He said, sitting back and picking his sake up again, to his daughter's displeasure. Luffy grinned and was at the railing in a flash, yelling for his crew to come join the party.

* * *

The Whitebeard's medical staff had long since stolen Chopper away, it wasn't everyday you meet a doctor that grew up on Drum Island, now the Sakura Kingdom. Especially one that grew up back when they were known for their medical practices and doctors. Several of them had been there before, of course, but they hadn't stayed long. They wanted to pick his brain, see if he knew of anything they could do to preserve their father's life. Nobody else on board knew it, except maybe Marco, but he was sick.

When they explained what was going on and handed over his health charts, he disappeared back to the _Sunny_ for a little bit and came back with his private medical journals, specifically the one he started during the two year separation. What they had noted sounded familiar... Of course, some of it might just be all his years of fighting taking its toll, plus old age and the rough lifestyle in general that he lived, but not all of it... those factors would have compounded the sickness if anything else.

"Ah, here it is." He said, and handed over his notes to the _Moby's_ doctor. He looked through Chopper's notes and face-planted. It was so simple!

"We've been to Drum, well, Sakura now I suppose, why didn't they say anything about this?" He asked.

Chopper barely refrained from doing a dance, and instead shook his head. "Because this is something I developed in the past two years using techniques taught to me by Doctorine, and from what I learned the past two years in the Torino Kingdom... the medical library there was huge! They had information and textbooks in there that Doctorine would kill to get her hands on!" Chopper laughed, even though he knew that it was probably true.

"There were a few medicinal herbs there that don't grow anywhere else, too. I brought some back to the _Sunny_ with me when I left, so I could grow them myself. I'll leave some with you." Chopper promised. "I also managed to get all of Hogback's research notes after we defeated him and the rest of Moriah's crew." He said with a frown. He'd looked up to Hogback up until he actually met the man. "Not all of it was good... I threw away everything that had to do with making his zombies, but some of it was still good for medicinal use."

The medical staff clearly thought he was the heavens gift to them.

While Chopper was with the medics, Sanji had been snagged by the Fourth Division, and Thatch. They were sharing recipes and discussing how Sanji adapted to his limited mobility in one hand. The short answer, he adapted. Nothing special about it. The long answer involved several accidents in the kitchen that only amateurs would ever make (and as a result, he would never admit to making, despite the circumstances) as he forced his hand to do what he wanted it to.

They were quite impressed when they found out where he'd been the past two years, although they sympathized with him that a kingdom made up of Okama was _not_ somewhere they wanted to be stranded. _Ever_. But, when it came to food and such, they were known as the best. Any captain could consider himself lucky to have somebody trained by them on their ship. Even if most of them would do anything possible to keep the Okama themselves off their ship.

Franky at some point had been dragged into giving the Whitebeard shipwrights a tour of the _Sunny_ , since they could almost smell all the goodies he put into her. They were amazed by how she was powered by Cola, although he admitted that he just hadn't had a chance to upgrade her yet, since he'd had to find another source to power himself during the two year separation, and he wanted to do the same with her. He still ran on Cola, but he didn't _have_ to anymore, that way he wouldn't be hampered by a lack of it.

There had been a few times before they reached Sabaody where they needed to make an escape, but couldn't because they were out of Cola. Like when they escaped Akainu, they used up all of their Cola, if he'd shown up again, they would have been sunk.

Nami had been found by the Navigators, and they were comparing notes on the weather and such, since all reports they'd heard pointed towards her being able to sense weather pattern changes almost instinctively. From the most minute of changes in the wind patterns and air pressure. This was very impressive at her young age. Not to mention, she literally bent the weather to her will and used it as her weapon of choice.

This was proven when she slammed Zoro with a lightning bolt at some point during the party because he said something she didn't like. The fact he was up seconds later perfectly fine and yelling at her proved just how often that happened.

The rest of the Strawhats were scattered over the deck, although Zoro stayed close to Luffy, who stayed nearby his brother when he wasn't bouncing around with Usopp (After Usopp woke up, of course). Ace, for his part, stayed near his captain and Marco.

They were relieved to see Ace smiling and laughing like normal again, he'd been a pain to deal with since the attack, it had almost been like back when he was still trying to take Pops head. But, it was clear that he'd been extremely worried about his brother. The Strawhats had been right when they said Ace was going to flip when the Government plastered Strawhat Luffy's 'death' all over the newspapers. The only thing that kept him from going back to Paradise and hunting the ones who hurt his baby brother down was getting called by Haruta right before he read the newspaper and told the plan. Which was basically putting Ace in charge of the team tasked with finding and bringing in the Traitor's crew.

Keep him busy that way. And provide others around him who could keep him somewhat grounded.

At some point, Luffy fell asleep leaning against his big brother, to everybodies shock, but neither Ace nor the Strawhats seemed all that surprised. According to the call from Jimbei, they'd had a more exciting trip than most, coming from Sabaody to reach Fishman Island. And then, as soon as they got there, they were dragged into a three way conflict between two crime families and the city guards.

With all three of the fighting factions assuming that they were with one of the other two factions. So, they were fighting off three different parties, and trying not to injure the guards too much since this was Whitebeard territory and the guards were just trying to keep the peace. And then, Luffy hadn't allowed much time to recover, he was too excited to reach the New World.

Honestly, they were surprised that the hadn't crashed before this. He'd already eaten the post-battle feast several times over, so now it was time for his post-battle crash.

"Don't worry about it, it takes a lot of energy just for him to walk, because his body is rubber. It takes even more for him to fight. He usually sleeps for a day or two after a fight, depending on how big it was." Chopper explained to the concerned Whitebeard's. It was the times when he wasn't sleeping, but out due to injury that were a cause for worry. Privately, he thought that the crashes were harder since the fight with Akainu. His body was having to work even harder to compensate for all the damage he took, even though Chopper managed to fix a lot of it, but still, part of his lung was gone now.

After shooting him a concerned look, they all went back to the party, leaving Ace too look at his baby brother (although he wasn't much of a baby anymore, was he?) fondly. Now that his brother was here, he felt like he could relax. Now that he'd seen him for himself, that he was really alright.

* * *

Luffy, surprisingly enough, woke up a few hours later, and when he did Ace took him to his cabin to tell him about Sabo being alive.

"What's up, Ace?" Luffy asked.

"I got a visit after you guys were separated. From somebody we both know." Ace said, honestly not sure how to tell his brother. His baby brother had always been more emotional than he was, he never had any qualms about showing his emotions, not even when he was crying. He'd cried for days when they heard of Sabo's death. He just knew that he was going to have a crying Luffy on his hands hearing that their brother was still alive after all.

"Who?" Luffy asked, with his head cocked to the side. He couldn't think of anybody that he and Ace would both know off of Dawn Island. Of course, it was always possible that they knew the same pirates, but... although he supposed it could have been Shanks. Ace had told him about meeting him shortly after he arrived in the New World.

Ace grimaced. "Well, first off. We thought he was dead. His boat was shot down years ago, but he was rescued. Although sometime during the shooting he hit his head or something, because he couldn't remember anything. Not us, not even his name. They only knew it because it was written on his clothes." He started, he wanted to make the point very clear that none of it was Sabo's fault. He knew that Luffy wouldn't hold a grudge, he would forgive Sabo for not being there pretty quickly, but he figured that making this point clear from the beginning would make it easier for Luffy to understand and accept.

Luffy was starting to worry. "Who is it?" He asked again. He only knew one person that got his boat shot down that they thought died. Ace couldn't be talking about Sabo, could he? Was his other brother really still alive? He could already feel himself starting to tear up, barely allowing himself to hope that it was true, that he could really have both brothers.

"It was Sabo. When Robin ended up with the Revolutionaries two years ago, he was put in charge of her while she was with them. She told him all kinds of stories about her time in your crew, and it somehow sparked his memory of us. He then came looking for me, and I helped him remember the rest." He leaned forward, and wrapped a hand around his little brothers shoulder. "Luffy, Sabo is alive." He finished, and easily caught the flying, sobbing rubbery mass that launched itself at him. Well, at least this time they were tears of joy instead of mourning, he figured.

Luffy cried his eyes out for at least ten minutes before he finally calmed down some. Still sniffling, he asked, "Where is he now?" He looked around as if he was expecting Sabo to appear out of the shadows.

Ace smiled slightly. "He's on a mission right now. He is the second in command of the Revolutionary Army. It was your father, Dragon, who rescued him."

Luffy laughed a little, thinking that that was the perfect job for his older brother. Then he frowned and looked at the door. "Why didn't Robin tell me?" He asked.

Ace frowned too. "Sabo probably asked her not to, probably so I could tell you myself, either that or was hoping to find you and tell you himself. From what I know, he was planning to be here when you arrived, but something came up last minute. I can give you guys his personal Transponder number later, although I'm sure Robin already has it." He shrugged, relieved that Luffy was done crying (for now).

With a grin, he suggested they go out and rejoin the party. Luffy agreed enthusiastically, he had even more to celebrate now!

* * *

It took a few days for the party to begin to wind down. The more coherent of the Whitebeard's were impressed at the Strawhats endurance and ease at keeping up with them and their partying ways. Not many could keep up with them when they really got to partying.

Sometime during those few days, the Navigators and skeleton crew that drew the 'party shift' (they were in charge of keeping watch and running the ship while everyone else partied, they would get to enjoy the next party. Somebody had to make sure they didn't go off course and they stayed intact) moved the ships away from the 'entrance' area. (They would have had a few people sailing the _Sunny_ , except the _Sunny_ started sailing herself after _Moby_ told her what was going on, this got the shipwrights who were still sober excited, it wasn't everyday you met a crew that cared enough about their ship for the ships spirit to wake up after all). They didn't want the party constantly interrupted by Paradise upstarts who thought they were lucky to catch the Whitebeard's off guard right off the bat.

Well, they would have thought they were lucky, the Whitebeard's were never off guard. Even stone drunk they could all wield their weapons and fight as if they were completely sober. The fight might just be a little... crazier than usual, when they started bringing their drunken antics into it.

However, it was on the second day that a, only slightly tipsy, Thatch finally managed to corner Robin and ask about his Fruit.

"Hmm, the Dark-Dark Fruit..." She said thoughtfully. "I've heard of it..." After a few minutes of contemplation, she nodded. "Follow me."

Thatch was confused when she led him down into the _Sunny_ , and into a room full of books. The Strawhats own little library. "Some of these books I brought with me when I joined them. The rest I bought or lifted here and there afterwards. But the ones I brought, came from various libraries throughout the West Blue and Grand line that I've stolen here and there. Some came from a Marine base that I happened to be passing by, (or dropping into) some from the former Warlord Crocodile's personal library... I managed to get a few books off of the Revolutionaries when I was with them. Over the years, I've managed to find quite a few books that the Government banned for some reason or other... some of them its quite obvious why the World Government would want them banned." She laughed. "Other's, not so much."

"I imagine not..." Thatch murmured, looking around the library. He wondered how many of these books that were banned the Whitebeard's had on board the _Moby_. And whether anybody would even know or care that they were banned.

"Chopper has some medical texts that he's collected over the years, then of course Nami has her collection of texts covering navigation and weather patterns common around certain areas of the seas... Sanji has a few cook books I think, although he prefers to cook whatever he knows will taste good together, and experiment. If he cooks based off a recipe he usually has it memorized. I think we have an encyclopedia in here about swords... a few mechanical and engineering books Franky and Usopp share..." She gestured towards a section of the room that was blocked off, with a thick padlock. "Personal journals written by one of us, Chopper has his private medical journals, and Franky has the blueprints of some of his inventions journaled as well, Nami keeps her maps and the crews travel log in there, too. And, of course Brooke's music. Naturally, only those of us that keep such a journal has a key."

"Of course, wouldn't want some other crew finding such things and using them against you." Thatch murmured, completely understanding. He himself had his personal recipe book locked away where nobody else could get to it. Someday, he might publish it. Someday. Until then, he would break those recipes out for special occasions just for his family. He cooked up a few of them for the Strawhats welcoming party.

"Ah, here we are." She finally murmured, pulling down several books, all with a picture of a Devil Fruit on the cover. He recognized one, they had a copy of it themselves. The other books though... he was pretty sure Haruta _might_ know they exist.

"We have that one." He pointed it out.

"Ah, yes, I'm not surprised. That one is technically banned by the Government..."

"Technically?" How did that even happen, and if it was technically banned, then why was it so common in bookstores?

She chuckled. "Yes. The Government only authorized the printing of that one, for the sole purpose of having one in each Marine Base. Only the captains and higher ranks were authorized to have access to it, obviously that didn't work, the book got leaked and was massed produced before the Government could blink. They wanted the Marines to be on the look-out for certain Devil Fruits, and the idea was, that when they found them, they would turn them in to their superiors, who would them hand them over to the World Nobles when they demanded them." She said, amused.

"Well, that was a fail." Thatch deadpanned.

"Quite. Ah, here it is. The Dark-Dark Fruit." She read for minute. "Ah, this _is_ that Fruit... I knew it sounded familiar." She exclaimed, to his confusion. "Yes, I'm not surprised that your having trouble with it. The Dark-Dark Fruit has a bit of a history. It is one of two Devil Fruits that has a degree of sentience. If you want to truly wield it, then you must prove yourself worthy."

"How do I do that?" Thatch asked, dismayed, but also curious about what she meant about it's history, and mentioned it.

"Well, as far as proving yourself is concerned... that is between you and the Fruit you wield. And as for its history..." She trailed off to collect her thoughts. "You know, of course, that Ohara was destroyed because we were researching the Void Century, and the World Government didn't like that. Because we could read the Ancient Language of the Poneglyphs." She began.

He nodded in agreement. Yes, she had explained that the first and only time she had visited the _Moby_ with Sabo.

"Well, one of the things we were able to discover, was that there were two Devil Fruits involved during the war that happened."

"War? How do you know it was a war?"

"Well, that was the only thing that could really make sense to us, why all accounts of that time were 'lost'. That there was a terrible war. With what became the World Government as the victors, and the losers either massacred with few survivors scattering, or long ago enslaved and eventually killed." She personally thought they were fighting those with the initial D in their name, but had no proof yet. Well... other than the fact that the World Nobles seemed to consider all with that initial to be their number one enemy. And they seemed to be able to force change, whether people liked it or not.

"Ok, makes sense." Thatch admitted. And it did, it made painful sense. "But where does the Fruit come into it?"

"Well, there are two accounts the scholars at Ohara managed to find on the Void Century, first hand accounts, that mentioned seeing either side wielding powers that could only come from a Devil Fruit. One side had the power of Darkness, the other appeared to have some kind of ability over light." She explained. "Now, the basic abilities of the Dark-Dark Fruit are; power over darkness, gravity, and you can negate other Devil Fruits, yes?" She said. He nodded.

"Well, the other Fruit was said to be the exact opposite. Power over light, gravity again, and the ability to enhance and support other Devil Fruits. Instead of negating, it made them stronger, more powerful. Now, because the Dark-Dark Fruit is out in the world, I think that Fruit was being wielded by somebody on the World Government's side, while the other one was on the other side of conflict and hidden away when it was clear who was winning the conflict. I do not know where the Ancient Weapons come into the conflict, though." She said with a small shrug.

Thatch gave a small laugh. "Hey, maybe that other Devil Fruit is on Raftel, yeah? That seems to be where all the Poneglyphs lead eventually." He muttered the last bit under his breath so she wouldn't hear.

She heard, though, but didn't say anything, because she'd already figured that out. The Rio Poneglyph was on Raftel, and the only way to find it was by finding the other Poneglyph's. And since she was the only one in the world who could read them, the world might as well crown Luffy now and be done with it.

Thatch sighed. "So, I have to prove myself worthy of wielding my Fruit, because I just happened to be lucky enough to find the only sentient Devil Fruit available. Great." He muttered. She hummed in agreement.

"I apologize for not having more information." She said, and she truly meant it. After all, to not be able to use a tool in your arsenal to its full potential, especially out on these seas, was dangerous. Even more so for a member of a Yonko crew. He only wanted to use it to protect his family better.

He sighed. "Nah, you told me enough. I supposed it's not true strength if I have to be told how to use it." He smiled wryly. He glanced around and stood, stretching out to crack his back. "I best get back to the party, and some of the twelfth division was wanting to talk to you I think..." He said, sighing. He hadn't learned exactly what he wanted, but he learned enough to be getting on with.

Now, how to prove himself worthy...

* * *

Three days later, the party was over due to lack of anymore supplies and a need to get sailing before any idiots tried to use their absence to be stupid and the people on their islands paid the price for it. Well... they also needed to stop by a nearby supply island.

The Navigators helped Nami set the new Log Pose, after giving her sympathetic smiles when her captain immediately ordered her to start going towards the needle that was shaking the most... thus taking the most dangerous path through the Grand Line. Over time as they started visiting places, they could start collecting Eternal Poses and then wouldn't need to stick to just one path so much. They also provided her with an extra Eternal Pose they had to Water 7, back in Paradise. It was still the absolute best place to go for any ship-maintenance needs they might have. Especially if they happened to already be in Paradise for something. Nami was just happy to have another Pose for a friends home island. (Water 7, Alabasta, and the Sakura Kingdom)

They were then given a badge-like object with Whitebeard's symbol on it, to show to any town authorities in Whitebeard's territory. That way those authorities wouldn't think they were attacking pirates, and welcome them. Hopefully this would let the Strawhats avoid another situation like the one they ran into on Fishman Island. At least if they had this, the Guards wouldn't have bothered them, they would have only had to fight off two groups, instead of three.

Whitebeard and Luffy had worked out a few more details of their loose alliance, and Nami was then provided with an Eternal Pose to one of the Whitebeard's supply islands, as well as one of their 'hide-away' islands if they needed somewhere to go to rest and regroup. (In all, they came away with three Eternal Poses) Luffy protested, but was reassured that everybody in their alliance had those, and it would also come in handy in case they had another situation like with Akainu.

Luffy accepted them pretty quietly after that. It was clear that he was still shaken up by that incident, how it happened so fast and left them so desperate and beaten... It would be good to have somewhere to go if they needed it... unlike when they needed to turn back to Water 7 to resupply, but couldn't because they didn't have an Eternal Pose and the Grand Line was tricky like that. Zoro noticed his captain's mood and came up behind him to lightly bonk him on the head before laying a hand on his shoulder. Luffy gave him a half smile before nodding towards the _Sunny_.

Zoro nodded and moved to make sure Usopp, Franky, and Brooke had her ready to sail out. Leaving his captain with his brother for a few more minutes before they left.

Ace looked at him. "You know, I almost don't want to let you go." He said, and he really didn't. After everything that happened two years ago? Yeah, no.

"But I gotta go, how else am I going to do what I want?" Luffy asked.

Ace sighed, "Yeah, I know. Just keep in mind you can call me whenever you need to, and you have places to go to if you need them, too. Don't hesitate to use those hideout islands if you need to, ok? It won't reflect badly on you or your crew." he said, worried and not afraid to show it.

"I'll be ok, we're strong." Luffy reassured with a smirk.

Ace just watched him for a moment. "Yeah, yeah you are." He finally said, softly. Luffy looked shocked for a moment, before he grinned widely and laughed, catching his brother in a huge hug before he jumped back onto his own ships deck and yelled to set the sails before he turned around and waved at the Whitebeard's standing at the railing of the _Moby_ to see them off. Once they were sailing, the rest of his crew gathered around him to watch the _Moby_ disappear into the distance.

* * *

I have no idea about how the Void Century happened. I'm not that far in the series yet, life keeps happening. I'm sure she learns the True History eventually, but not where I'm at in the series. This is my personal opinion on what happened. Well, maybe minus the Devil Fruit part.


	14. Robin- Where She Belongs

Robin couldn't believe it.

Here she was, doing all of this, so that her crew; her Nakama, brothers, sister... her _family_ , can live. So they can continue on their journey, they can achieve their dreams, so they can _live_.

And yet...

Here Luffy was...

Ordering Usopp in that stupid disguise of his...

To shoot down the Government flag.

Declaring _war_ on the World Government.

 _For her_.

And not one of the crew is protesting. They're just standing there, watching this happening... and is Zoro smirking?! He is! He is enjoying this!

This wasn't supposed to be how any of this went. She turned herself in, with the promise that her crew would be allowed to do their business in Water 7 and sail away, unhindered. She would tag along while CP9 finished their mission, killing Iceburg and finding those blueprints, and then she would accompany them to Enies Lobby without fuss. Once there, she would most likely be put on a ship and sent to Impel Down, where she would stay until they either brought her out for an execution, or she just died.

Her crew, her precious people, they would continue on their journey, mourning her absence, and wishing she hadn't left. But in time they would get caught up in the next adventure, and in time she would just be that girl that sailed with them for a while.

They _were not_ supposed to follow her to get her back! She knew they were insane, but this... this was beyond insane.

She was so tired of it all, so tired of running. Tired of looking over her shoulder, tired of crews and organizations being destroyed simply because she was there. Some of the captains she'd sailed under over the years were genuinely good people, who didn't deserve the fate she brought on them. Others deserved everything they got and more, but that was beside the point. The last thing she wanted to do was drag another crew of good people down with her. Especially _this_ crew.

Her fate was decided long ago, she'd only been delaying the inevitable. She should have died long ago, the night her island burned. Why, why can't Luffy just let her go? She can't... she can't- she just wants to die. She just wants to get it over with, before somebody else she cares about gets hurt because of her.

She wants to... she listens to what Luffy is saying... can she really do this?

"I WANT TO LIVE! TAKE ME TO SEA WITH YOU!" The words come, almost against her will. But, as soon as she says it, she realizes that she meant every word, and a weight that she didn't even know was there, vanishes.

Her crew is here, and even with the threat Spandam poses with that Button of Death, she knows that the seven of them will be alright. The seven of them will get out of this alive.

Because Luffy is standing right there, giving CP9 that smirk. The one that tells his enemies that they better run, and run fast. Because he is going to pound them into the ground until they beg for mercy and then he's just going to keep pounding. Because they tried to take something that belongs to him, and he wants it back.

She never thought she would be the thing he fought so hard to take back.

But now that she's here, she realizes that this is the best place in the world to be.

With these six people, is exactly where she belongs. And their captain will fight for all of them as hard as it takes to keep them there.


	15. Night-time Visitors

Luffy was on watch, and playing with the puzzles Robin got him (otherwise they feared he would get bored and wake them all up, or try and raid the kitchen again just for something to do.) He knew that Robin knew better, but Nami seemed to think that he couldn't focus that long. He didn't know why, either. It was watch duty, it was _important_. If he didn't pay attention or stay at his post to keep watch, then anybody could come aboard and do who knows what and they wouldn't even know about it until it was too late.

That was dangerous, he wasn't going to leave his Nakama in danger like that. He didn't say anything though, he supposed that they did provide something to do while he kept watch.

Like how he knew Zoro lifted weights or practiced his forms while on watch, or Brook played his violin and wrote new songs. Sanji tended to plan out the meals for the upcoming weeks, and Nami drew maps or updated the crews travel-log. Usopp experimented with his ammo for his slingshot, Robin read a book while using her Devil Fruit to watch every inch of the ship and surrounding oceans, and Chopper made medicine or took inventory of his supply cabinets. He wasn't quite sure what Franky did, but he was pretty sure it had to with small repairs on the _Sunny_ or himself.

They all had stuff they did to keep themselves awake and somewhat occupied while they kept watch. It helped that they all had Observation Haki to an extent.

About an hour ago, Luffy had sensed someone sailing nearby. As far as he could tell, it was just a small boat, with three people. But they were _strong_. And somewhat familiar, although he couldn't remember where from. So, for now, he would let his crew sleep for as long as they could. He'd already roused Robin, and she was keeping an eye or two on their visitors while she, too, went back to sleep. He was glad that she could sleep while still having her Devil Fruit active.

Finally, after an hour of 'watching' them, as well as sensing for anymore threats in case they were just a distraction, they moved. Luffy quietly left the crows nest and just sat on the ladder underneath it, waiting for their guests to arrive. Robin was watching, too, and she would wake up Nami if she thought it was needed, and then the girls would wake up the rest of the crew, so he wasn't worried about the others being caught unaware. Right now, he just wanted to know who they were and if they should be counted as enemies or not.

For all he knew, it could be members of the Whitebeard Pirates, although he had no idea what happened to Ace's Nakama after Marineford. He'd asked Rayleigh, but all he said was that they were doing what they did best. Whatever that meant.

And, he supposed that there were powerful people that he had a connection with, Rayleigh had explained to him just what his father's position and title meant. So, they could be part of his father's Army, too. Last time Robin had spoken with them over the Transponder they'd provided her, he'd offered his ship up as a rest stop if they needed it and were in the area. He doubted they were Shanks men, they had their promise, after all.

They could even be Marines. Although he doubted it, because Marines wouldn't send three strong men to sneak aboard in the middle of the night. They would have sent several battleships and outright attacked. They were annoying like that.

Finally, his uninvited guests climbed aboard, and Luffy froze, eyes widening. He wasn't expecting that... He was so shocked that he fell off the ladder he was clinging to like a monkey, falling with a loud thud right at the older pirates feet (and waking up some of his crew in the process).

"Ow." He muttered, getting up and rubbing his head. It was forever a mystery how falling off things and hitting his head could hurt, when he normally didn't feel blows that weren't laced with Haki or Seastone.

A few chuckles made him glance up with a glare. "Still falling off of things, eh Anchor?" Yasopp asked, teasing.

"Shut up!" Luffy yelled, easily falling back into a familiar rhythm with these three. "It's not like you're any better." He glared, although the smile that was threatening to break out kind of ruined the effect. He accepted the hand up, anyway.

"Hey, I'm not that clumsy." Yasopp defended himself. His companions snickered. Give Yasopp a gun and he was the most coordinated guy on the planet. Give him booze and a gun, and he could still shoot the wings off a fly from a mile away. Give him just booze... the guy couldn't take two steps without tripping over his own feet.

Luffy was interrupted before he could answer. "Hey, Luffy, is everything ok out here?" Zoro called as he left the men's quarters.

"Yeah, we have guests, come meet them!" Luffy chirped happily.

"Eh? Why do they seem familiar?" He muttered when he saw them. He just got a raised eyebrow from them in response. They were pretty sure this was Zoro, thinking they recognized him from his bounty poster.

"They're Shanks guys! This is Benn, Yasopp ("ah, I knew I recognized _him_ from somewhere else") and Lucky Roo." Luffy introduced, climbing up to sit on Benn's back like a monkey, just like he used to. And, just like all those years ago, Benn didn't bother asking him to get down.

Zoro nodded in greeting before he glanced at Luffy and turned around, "I'll go get the love-cook up. I hope you three are hungry." He called over his shoulder.

"Shishishishi" Luffy laughed, and directed the Red-haired pirates to the kitchen.

"Nice ship, it suits you Anchor." Benn said, looking around. And, honestly, the grass and the swing, not to mention all the color. It really suited Luffy perfectly. Just by looking at her, you couldn't tell that the _Sunny_ was a pirate ship. Until you looked closer and noticed that she was loaded with cannons, Yasopp thought he could see a cannon hidden in the figurehead, even. It was at odds with the corners of the deck where he saw two separate gardens, plus a small tangerine grove.

Luffy laughed. "Franky built her after we had to say goodbye to _Merry_." He said sadly, then perked up. "You should see the main cannon, it's awesome!" He exclaimed, with small stars in his eyes. All three veteran pirates smiled at their little Anchor (not so little anymore, is he?) indulgently.

It was good that he could still marvel at things, and still be that little kid they knew after everything he'd seen, after Ace...

Whatever Luffy was going to say next was interrupted by the arrival of some of his crew. A well-dressed blond (despite the early morning), Zoro, and a woman they all recognized as Nico Robin. The blonde took one look at them, huffed, and started heating up the oven while he pulled ingredients out of a triple padlocked fridge and pantry. With a key, combination, and fingerprint scan. The Red-haired trio sweat-dropped, but glanced at Anchor and said nothing.

"This is Sanji, our cook, Zoro my swordsman, and Robin! She's our... uh, well, she does a lot." Gathered information, research, communications, assassinations (that she thought he didn't know about, but even he noticed that bounty hunters in the area would suddenly turn up dead...).

"She's our archaeologist." Sanji called over absently. He didn't bother mentioning her unofficial jobs on the ship, either. The less anybody else knew, the better. Especially with her past and the fact she was wanted for simply being able to read an ancient language. Well, until she joined the Strawhats, anyway. Then, she was wanted for being one of them, not just for her knowledge.

"Hmm." Luffy hummed in agreement. "This is Benn, Lucky Roo, and Yasopp. They sail with Shanks." Sanji paused in his movements, and Robin simply smiled into her tea cup that Sanji had brought her. She'd recognized them from their posters, of course. And, naturally, all the Strawhats knew all about Shanks and how he was Luffy's father figure. Even if they hadn't seen each other in years and that probably wasn't how Luffy and Shanks would describe their relationship. That was how the Strawhats all saw it, though. In their eyes, Shanks took on the role of a father in Luffy's life, simple as that.

"It's nice to meet you, we've heard a lot." Robin greeted.

"Usopp will be happy to see you." Zoro grunted, gazing at Yasopp, who smiled proudly at the thought of his son. That was his one regret, that he hadn't been there more for his family. But, his son had turned out well despite that, so he was a proud father. He couldn't wait to see him again.

Lucky Roo, Benn, and Luffy groaned at the sight of that smile. It usually meant that they were going to hear another story of the man's son. Although, Roo and Benn thought Luffy had it easy, he'd only had to sit and listen to it for the one year, and that was only when they were in port after exploring the nearby islands and territories for a few days or weeks at a time. Although, there was that one time Luffy snuck aboard and went along. They'd been a couple days out at sea by the time they found the little scamp, which was impressive when you consider that they were a New World crew about to be named the next Yonko crew, and they were all proficient at one form of Haki or another. Shanks insisted on them all knowing it.

"So, what's up?" Luffy asked. "You guys were just floating out there forever." He asked curiously.

"We were just sailing by, and saw your flag. Decided to stop, well, we were debating if we should or not, considering your promise to the captain." Roo said with a shrug.

Luffy just laughed, showing them that he didn't mind. "So, what have you guys been up to?" He asked, eager to hear more stories of their adventures.

"Well, you probably haven't really noticed it yet, but things in the New World are still in chaos from Whitebeard's death. The Whitebeard pirates have still been sailing, trying to keep their territories together, but so many of them were raided and claimed by other pirates waiting to pounce, that by the time they recovered enough to start reclaiming what was theirs, most of them were already in shambles. The only ones that went untouched were those islands bordering our territory, or the ones that are out of the way and difficult to get to." Benn said.

The Strawhats all frowned in consideration when they heard that the Whitebeard's were trying to reclaim their territory, except for Fishman Island, that was Luffy's now. Although Luffy looked happy to hear that they were still trying to protect those that they'd promised their protection to years ago. Finally, Luffy looked up at his crew and nodded after a moment. They smiled and Robin crossed her arms and muttered something, to the veteran's confusion. A few moments later, they heard thumps and protests. As if somebody had just been rolled out of bed unexpectedly.

Luffy looked at Robin again, and she nodded. "I'm keeping an eye out. All angles of the ocean are being watched. The others will be up and in here soon." She reported. He nodded in satisfaction, much to the confusion of his guests. After another moment, the sounds of the rest of the men getting ready stopped, only for a panicked cry to sound and the noises of getting ready to become more frantic.

Zoro snorted in amusement. "Sounds like the rest of the idiots remembered Luffy was on watch last night."

"Which decreases the chances of getting a hot meal." Robin finished in her own amusement. The Redhaired trio just exchanged looks and said nothing. Luffy always had a big appetite. Becoming rubber had not made that fact any better, at all. If anything, it made it worse.

It didn't take long for the other men to arrive, right when Sanji was laying food out on the table. Although, they were so busy filling their plates and keeping the contents away from grabby, rubbery hands that they failed to notice the visitors. It was lucky for said visitors that they got their own plates and Luffy never stole food from guests. Until they'd been there for more than one meal, then of course they were free game just like everyone else on his ship. The whole time, Yasopp stared at his son in awe, as if he would suddenly disappear on him. It had been almost fourteen years since he saw Usopp, after all. That was a long time for the proud father.

When Nami finally came in, yawning out a good morning, the first thing she noticed was the three strange men sitting at their dining table. "Ah, Luffy, who are our guests?" She asked, carefully. Although she did notice the resemblance one of them shared with Usopp... and his headband said Yasopp... now that she asked, she had a pretty good idea of who they were.

Brooke, Chopper, Franky, and Usopp finally noticed their guests, and two of them screamed in shock, while the other two greeted them happily. If they were sitting at their table and eating their food, then they weren't enemies. They were most definitely friends. Once Usopp finally calmed down and got a look at who they were, his eyes widened.

"Dad?" He blinked and looked between his father and Luffy, who was just grinning away.

Yasopp grinned back nervously, and hesitantly held his arms out a little. "Hey, Usopp, I guess it's been a while, huh?" He asked, somewhat nervously.

"Dad!" Usopp cried, and jumped his father, pulling both of them into a massive hug. "Hey, I wasn't expecting to see you until Luffy and Shanks finally met up somewhere!" He joked a little, causing the Red-haired pirates to laugh a little.

"We were nearby." Benn repeated.

"Oh! Yeah, this is Lucky Roo, Benn, and Yasopp, they sail with Shanks." Luffy introduced again, to the newcomers in the kitchen.

"I think we figured that part out, Luffy." Nami said, amused.

"Hey, Makino said it was polite to introduce people, anyway!" Luffy yelled, and huffed in annoyance.

"Makino, huh?" Benn asked. "Hey, how was she doing, when you left and all?"

"She's good!" Luffy chirped.

"She's not had anymore problems with bandits, has she? We aren't exactly there to, uh... chase them off anymore." Roo asked, concerned for the barmaid that they got to know and befriend.

"Nope, after you guys left, Gramps took me up to live in the mountains with Ace and the bandits he lived with." The Strawhat crew froze and watched their captain in concern when he mentioned his brother. He had yet to talk about him since they got back together. The visiting pirates all blinked in surprise after hearing that Luffy was raised by bandits after they left. Considering that it was mountain bandits that tried to kill him in the first place... and since when was Garp crazy enough to leave his grandsons with mountain bandits? Seriously? "Makino and Mayor made a trip every couple of months to bring food and clothes... Dadan and her kind of became friends, so Dadan put the bar under her protection. Nobody on the mountain is stupid enough to go against Dadan and her family. Only reason she doesn't have a bounty herself is because she's friends with Gramps."

Benn finished blinking out his shock, then nodded in slight approval. That was good. He would rather Makino not be anywhere near bandits, but he supposed that if Garp trusted these ones to keep an eye on his grandsons... and it wasn't like Makino couldn't handle herself... he remembered those sword lessons the Captain forced her into accepting from him after the first time bandits made a mess of her bar while they were gone. She'd become a force to be reckoned with, that was for sure.

"Well, that's good, I suppose." Roo muttered around his food. Yasopp nodded in agreement. He had yet to move his arm from where he'd laid it across his sons shoulders.

"Makino? I don't remember you mentioning her before. Or this Dadan." Nami said, looking at her captain. Sure, she knew that he didn't really care about the past, and he didn't even mention Ace to them until they were meeting the guy, but they'd heard _all_ about Shanks.

"Wasn't safe to talk about them." Luffy said, matter-of-factly. Ace had drilled that part into his head before he left after turning 17. He said Garp had already spoken to the villagers (once it was clear that the boys weren't joining the Marines) about not talking about the boys as if they knew them. If anybody asked Garp, the boys were raised in isolation, minimal human contact. Just focusing on training and keeping fed for the day. (Which was essentially true, he just let them believe that there was nobody else involved.)

The Strawhats looked at him in surprise.

Benn nodded in agreement. "After Marineford, Garp was barely able to talk the Government out of sending a Buster call to Dawn Island. Purely because both you and your brother were raised there. Imagine what they would do if they found out that these boys still had people back there that they cared about. Garp has them believing that he raised them with next to no contact with other people, and that Anchor's connection to Shanks was a fluke, an accident." The Strawhat crew turned white. They could imagine the scenario. They weren't surprised, either. They knew what the government was capable of. All one had to do was look at Robin's home island.

"This Dadan and her people, plus Makino and the Mayor would be thrown into Impel Down for their hand in raising you boys, while the rest of the village of Fooshia will probably be sold off to the Celestial Dragons. The buildings burned and the people carted off." Yasopp said darkly.

"The Nobles in High Town would probably be moved somewhere else, safe and sound while everyone else suffered." Luffy muttered darkly. He hated High Town. The whole place was rotten to the core.

His crew were shocked at the look on his face, never would they have imagined seeing a look like that on their captains face. They wondered, not for the first time, if there wasn't a history between Luffy and some nobles, because they had noticed that he seemed to hold a special kind of anger towards the Nobles, or those that acted like Nobles, during their journeys. (There had, of course, been exceptions to that. Vivi, and several other nobles and royals who truly cared for their people and weren't afraid to do whatever they could to protect them. Otherwise, he had nothing but disdain for Nobles or Royals.)

This hatred towards those of this 'High Town', though... this was deeper than what they'd seen before.

"Yeah." Roo muttered in agreement.

It was silent around the table for a few minutes, before Usopp shook his head. "It's too early for this kind of talk! Dad, tell us about some of your adventures!" He said, pulling on his dad's arm a little, like he used to when he was younger and wanted his attention. Luffy laughed, he'd heard most of their stories, but it had also been twelve years, who knew how many new stories they had since he last heard them.

Roo and Benn looked at Yasopp and motioned for him to go ahead, both looked amused by their comrade being put on the spot like that. Yasopp stuck his tongue out and thought for a minute before he started. Every once in a while, the other two would cut in with some part of the story from how they saw it, or a short comment about what they were doing somewhere else at that time.

"Oh, there was this one time, back when we were sailing out of Fooshia for that year..." Roo started, and smirked at Luffy. The Strawhats looked curious while his companions looked amused. Luffy looked confused for a second until he realized what it was they were probably going to talk about.

His eyes widened. "No! They don't want to hear about that!" He yelled, jumping over the table to cover Roo's mouth. The Strawhats protested until he glared at them. It was a look they usually only saw turned on their enemies. Just, toned down a little.

"It was about towards the middle of our stay there." Benn continued where Roo left off. Luffy jumped to cover his mouth too. He could feel him smirking.

"You see, Little Anchor here..." Yasopp was cut off by a foot to his face. Covering his mouth.

"I thought we all promised that that never happened!" The rubber pirate whined with a pout once he was sure they were all shut up. The three pirates all glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, mischievously.

Luffy looked at Yasopp suspiciously before he slowly lifted his hand off his mouth. "We did say something about that, didn't we...?" He sighed dramatically while ignoring the pleading looks from the Strawhats. His crewmates sighed dramatically, too, and nodded in agreement. The Strawhats practically wilted in disappointment. Zoro just snorted.

"I'm still surprised from that time when he snuck along with us on one of our trips to the surrounding islands." Yasopp said, shaking his head in disbelief. That story was still going around the _Red Force_ today. Mostly the older members of the crew regaling the newer members that came after Dawn Island. There were many debates over whether or not the older crew members were pulling their legs or not. Especially after Shanks or Benn got through with teaching somebody Observation Haki.

Luffy got the faintest of smirks on his face.

"What is this?" Nami asked, curious.

Roo huffed. "First of all, the Captain is particularly strict about training and the like on the crew. Especially when it comes to Haki. Everyone on the crew must specialize in one form of it, while being at least proficient in the other one. If you want to train equally hard in both types, then he's not going to say no."

"Of course, the Captain is the only one who can use Conquerors." Yasopp said with a shrug.

"Yes, well... you can imagine our surprise when, after a few days of sailing, this kid," Benn gestures towards Luffy, who's smirk widened. "Comes stumbling out of the main cargo hold complaining that he's hungry and wants food."

"None of us knew he was there until then!" Yasopp said, honestly still shocked. Even years later.

"And considering that everyone on that ship knows Observation Haki, and the watchmen have it constantly activated..." Roo shook his head and ripped into his meat again.

"How on earth...?" Nami asked.

Luffy shrugged. "I didn't know about Haki. I just remember thinking I didn't want to be found until we were far enough away from Dawn that they couldn't just turn around and drop me off again."

"He unconsciously hid his Aura from us." Benn confirmed, shaking his head again.

Usopp groaned. "He does it on purpose now." It honestly explained so much. He shot Luffy a glare.

Yasopp laughed and clapped his boy on the shoulder. "That's our Anchor." He shook his head. "Had the whole crew shaking their heads wondering."

They were all silent for a few more minutes, before Yasopp broke the silence again. "Enough about us and our crew, how has your journey been going? We only get to read so much in the papers." He said. Luffy and crew blinked at him.

"Let's start with how all of you joined this one." Roo said, pulling Luffy's cheek.

"Hey!" Luffy protested, slapping his hand away with a pout.

The Strawhats glanced at each other before the crew turned as one to Zoro. As the first one to join Luffy, he would go first. He noticed their looks and scowled, but he put his fork down and thought for a moment. He smiled slightly at the memory. "I was more blackmailed into it than anything..." He started. The Red-haired pirates all blinked, but they were a good audience while Zoro told about how he and Luffy met. Somehow, they were not surprised to learn that Zoro's epitaph, 'The Pirate Hunter', actually followed him from when he was one of the most feared bounty hunters in the East Blue. At one point, Nami butted in to add that she was in the Base at the time, and that their actions had made her job of robbing the place more difficult.

When his story was done, the three looked at each other in disbelief, but in the end could only shake their heads. Only Luffy. The rest of the Strawhats were equally shocked. Those that came onto the crew after their arrival into the Grand Line had no idea how the original five came together, it wasn't really spoken about much. It wasn't that the older members of the crew were ashamed, it was just one of those things where, 'it happened, moving on.'

When some of the others looked to Nami next, some of them were a little surprised when her, Usopp, and Sanji had to conference for a moment. Finally, it was decided to have Nami tell her story twice. Since technically, she joined the crew twice.

Everyone was very amused when she started the story with her going about her day, robbing a pirate ship blind, when this crazy guy on a boat almost lands right on top of her, right when the Marines showed up and started firing at both the passenger ship and the pirate ship that robbed it. She briefly glossed over the part about Shells Town, since she already mentioned that she was there, and finally finished in Orange Town with how he left her treasure behind! _Everyone_ had a good laugh over that one.

Because it was such a 'Luffy thing' to do. Despite being a pirate, if he saw random civilians that needed it more, he would just give it all away. The Strawhats knew, that Nami wasn't really too mad about the treasure being left behind for the townspeople to rebuild, it was more that Luffy just _left_ it there without saying anything to her about it. Especially when they took into account that technically what he left was his share of the treasure anyway.

"My turn!" Usopp finally cried. Yasopp visibly perked up, he was going to get to hear more about his son!

Needless to say, the other three that were there ended up correcting quite a few details, to everyone's amusement. Yasopp, however, was very proud to hear how his son visited Kaya everyday to tell her stories to cheer her up, and then tried to warn the villagers. He was sad when he heard about Kaya's parents. They were good people, they cared about the townsfolk and always helped those who were going through a rough patch. He was angry that the villagers wouldn't believe him and tried to chase him off, but at the same time, he was reminded of a story that the Captain told him once from his home island about a boy who cried wolf...

Naturally, there was some teasing about Usopp and Kaya, especially when he didn't deny liking her and his face turned a nice shade of red.

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Yasopp finally spared his son. "Who's next?" He asked, looking around at the Strawhats.

"That would be me." Sanji said from his place near the stove, reaching for a cigarette briefly before he stopped himself and grabbed some gum instead. He never let himself smoke in the kitchen. "I used to work at the sea-restaurant, Baratie, under the old man, Zeff..." He started after a moment.

"Wait, Zeff, Red-foot Zeff?" Benn asked, surprised. Sanji nodded. "Huh. Well, I'll be. I wondered what happened to him." He said, shaking his head.

"You know him?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, our crew and his got into it a few times back in the old days, when we were both still sort of new. He made a good drinking buddy for the captain, too. I think he and old man Whitebeard met up a few times, too. I know Thatch sailed with Zeff for a little bit to hone his cooking skills before going back to Whitebeard's ship." Roo answered.

"Huh." Was Sanji's only answer. He hadn't known any of that, but then Zeff didn't really talk about his time as a pirate much, always preferring to say that it was in the past, although Sanji had caught him reading his crew's logbook several times over the years. Mostly around the anniversary of the storm that destroyed both of the ships they were on at the time. "Well, anyway..." And then he detailed when _he_ met the whirlwind that was Luffy. From when Luffy almost killed Zeff with a cannonball (the three that were there with Luffy had to step in and explain that the Marines shot the cannonball, Luffy had been trying to slingshot it back, but his hand slipped and threw off his aim) to the fight with Krieg and his decision to follow Luffy. Everyone was alarmed when he briefly mentioned that Nami had stolen the _Merry_ and taken off, but Nami promised to explain later.

The three were impressed when Sanji described Zoro's fight with Mihawk and what Mihawk said afterward. Of course, Mihawk had told them all about the encounter himself, but he hadn't gone into details. He'd just mentioned that Luffy and his first mate had a lot of potential and he was interested in seeing where they went.

Finally, Sanji was done. Robin shook her head. "All three of them, you saved either themselves or something precious to them. Just like you did with the rest of us." She murmured. Then she looked to Nami, sure that she was going to tell the next part of her story.

"My turn again!" She said, sounding cheerful. "So, a little background... ten years ago, my village was taken over. By the fishman pirates led by Arlong. During the takeover, he found one of the maps I'd drawn and decided that, even though I was just a 'lowly human', I had skills that he needed. So, after he killed my mother right in front of me and my sister, he gave me a choice. Join his crew as his cartographer and somehow earn a hundred million Belli to buy their freedom, or watch him destroy my village and everyone in it, right then and there. You can guess which one I chose." She said bitterly. Then she shook herself while those that didn't know this story listened in horror while the four boys listened with dark expressions, remembering how Arlong treated their navigator and wishing they could beat him up all over again.

"When I wasn't locked in my room at Arlong Park, I was sailing around, robbing pirates and trying to earn a hundred million Belli. That's what I was doing when Luffy almost landed on me." She shot him a glare, which he smirked at before glaring darkly at the table in front of him again. "Anyway... a few days after we reached the Baratie, some bounty hunting buddies of Zoro's dropped a few Wanted Posters. Arlong's was one of them, it was a reminder that I needed to get back.

Whenever I went out to gather money, I always had a deadline when I needed to be back, and I was almost late." She looked at the table lost in memories for a moment, before she continued. "'The Witch of Cocoyashi', they called me. For eight years, they pretended not to know about the deal I made with Arlong, to buy their freedom. So that if I ever wanted to just walk away, I could do it without any regrets. So, they pretended to hate me and spit on me, all while silently cheering me on. Idiots." She said fondly.

She went on to describe what happened when the Strawhats followed her to get her back.

"I should have punched him harder." Luffy muttered when she spoke about the fight between himself and Arlong. Nami reached out and patted his hand while the other boys nodded in agreement. Nami smirked mischievously when she told them all about how she left her island, and the... going away present, the villagers gave her. They all shared a laugh over that.

"That's all us East Blue people. Chopper?" Sanji said after a few moments.

Roo, Benn, and Yasopp had been curious about the little reindeer, and they weren't expecting to hear him talk, or to hear that he was the ships doctor, much less a doctor born, raised, and trained on what used to be the _Drum Kingdom_.

"Kureha?!" Benn yelped. Yes, yelped. "That woman is still alive?!" He was a mix between horrified and scared. Very, very scared. Every pirate who sailed the New World in the 'old days' would be. She may be a doctor, and a very good one, but the woman was crazy. Roo looked pensive, while Yasopp looked wary. The two of them hadn't been around to meet her, but they'd heard the tales. Every pirate who sailed long enough in the New World heard the tales. Rumor had it, that she was Gol. D Roger's grandmother or something.

"You know her?" Chopper asked, excited.

Benn shivered. "Yeah... yeah, I know her." He said, stealing Zoro's rum for a few quick sips. "All those out here who are old enough to sailed before or during Roger's reign know her. All those who came after, heard the stories. She's something of a legend, and a nightmare." He whispered the last part. Chopper looked at him, uncertain, but Luffy asked him to continue. In the end, everyone was laughing at how they were chased away by Kureha, and Nami was close to tears remembering the send off the crazy doctor gave Chopper. That same send off later caused the islanders to change the name of the kingdom, after practically forcing Dalton to take the metaphorical crown, of course.

"I believe I am next." Robin finally said quietly. "You all know most of my past..." She gave a brief, _correct_ version of events on her home island, and then jumped ahead to how she was the second-in-command of the bounty hunting/criminal organization Baroque Works. She detailed the events in Alabasta, and finished with Luffy saving her life in the Alabastan tombs, by not leaving her there to die like she wanted him to. How she practically invited herself onto the crew, because she didn't know where else to go. She decided to do what Nami did, and detail the events in Water Seven, when she left the crew. "I'll go again later." She said, gazing around at her Nakama. They nodded in understanding.

"Yow! I guess that means I'm _Suuuppppeeeerrr_ up!" Franky said, energetically. The Red-haired were surprised to learn that Franky was the apprentice to Tom the Shipbuilder himself when he was younger. Of course, this was before Tom was arrested and executed. Tom was just as well known in the New World as the doctor, Kureha, was. But the old fishman was spoken of in reverence, rather than fear. Somehow, none of them were surprised at all that Tom was in possession of the blueprints for one of the Ancient Weapons. Only Tom... He spoke of how he was arrested and taken to Enies Lobby with Robin when he refused to hand them over, but escaped while on the Sea-Train, tried to aid Sanji in getting Robin back, and got captured again. He briefly mentioned what happened there from his point of view, including the update call Spandem received that led him to believing Luffy had only taken out five men so far.

When Luffy shrugged and said it was more like 5,000 at that point, but he did remember smashing into a guy that was yelling into a Transponder Snail.

Franky shook his head and described the look on Spandem's face when Luffy showed up at the top of the building on the other side of the moat-like thing. Luffy looked quite proud of himself. Usopp almost interrupted to tell his father about how he burned the Government flag, but had to stop and remind himself that _Sniper King_ burned the flag, not him. Franky glossed over the fighting, and went to when they jumped into the sea to meet up with the _Merry_ , who had sailed itself all the way there, through the whirlpools and around all the giant warships, to help her humans escape the latest corner they were backed into. He sadly described the funeral they gave the _Merry_ , and all the Strawhats were silently crying, or looked somber.

He looked proud when he told about how he built the _Sunny_ himself, and glared at the rest of the Strawhats around him when he told about how they forced him into coming with them. Robin didn't look the least bit ashamed, and instead looked pleased with herself, even while the three Red-haired's stared at her in horror or reached to cover themselves protectively.

"My turn again." She said, instead. And told everyone what happened at Water 7 and Enies Lobby from _her_ point of view. She even included the little visit she got from Aokiji afterward, during the party the Strawhats accidentally threw for the city.

"Yohohohohohohoho! My, such lively adventures!" Brooke finally said after a few minutes of silence. "And it's amazing how Luffy helped all of you protect something you cared about in some way, although I suppose that's just what Luffy does..." He said thoughtfully. "My turn!" And he gave a brief history of his time with the Rumbar Pirates and Laboon before launching into how his first crew died and how he ended up as a living skeleton. Then, how Moriah took his shadow, leaving him doomed to sail in eternal fog forever within the Florian Triangle. Luffy got several annoyed looks when Brooke mentioned how Luffy saw him, and asked him to join his crew, just like that.

The Red-haired, just exchanged glances and shook their heads.

He went through the fighting on Thriller Bark, made a brief mention to how Kuma showed up, fought them a bit, and then just left... and somehow managed not to glance at Zoro when he talked about it. Luffy still didn't know, and Zoro wanted it to stay that way. Although, that made more sense now that he knew about the promise and threat Zoro gave the captain when he first joined.

When they were all finished, Benn could only shake his head in wonder. "Man, Lu, you sure know how to pick 'em." He said fondly, glancing at Luffy sitting beside him.

"Isn't my crew great?!" Luffy asked, with a giant sunny grin on his face. Then he stiffened and glanced towards the wall, at the same time as several others of his crew and the Red-haired trio. "Who is that?" He muttered, concerned. These guys felt strong, and there were a lot of them. However, like Benn, Yasopp, and Roo, they also felt vaguely familiar.

"Relax, everyone. That's us. We must have been gone too long." Benn said to his crewmates. Shanks must have gotten impatient when they weren't back the evening before and decided to come look for them.

Luffy looked excited to see Shanks again, but then his hand reached up and grabbed his hat, and his expression turned to panic. "Relax, Anchor. This won't affect your promise with the captain, it's just a random meet-up." Yasopp said, bopping the rubber man on the back of the head as he, Benn, and Roo got up and moved towards the door. The Strawhats all followed, Luffy joining them after a moment. After he had a moment to think it over, he decided to agree with Yasopp, and soon enough he was bouncing in excitement to see Shanks again.

They all moved over towards the rail, while Usopp climbed up the rigging a bit so he could lean out, pulling his goggles down over his eyes as went. "It's the _Red Force_ alright!" He confirmed. Luffy laughed in delight, he hadn't seen that ship in years! It didn't look like it changed a bit.

"How far?" He called up. The _Red Force_ was just within their sensory range, both Haki and sight. Although, it was little more than a small dot on the horizon.

Usopp took a moment to consider. "Just within range at full strength!" He answered. He knew what Luffy was planning. He was going to Rocket over... Luffy laughed, grabbed the rail, and started backing up, letting his arms stretch as he went. When he got to the other side of the ship, he actually hopped up so that he was leaning out over the ocean with his feet braced against the rail. The Strawhats moved out of the way and made sure their guests weren't going to be taken along for the ride, either. Usopp quickly judged Luffy's path, and had him move a little to the left so he didn't land in the ocean, and gave him the all clear to launch.

"Gum-Gum... Rocket!" Luffy cried, and was gone. The Red-haired trio watched, wide-eyed, as their Anchor disappeared into the distance, it was only their Haki that told them the pirate captain arrived safely on the _Red Force_ a few moments later.

"Whoa." Yasopp muttered, proud of his son for judging that so accurately. He'd watched in pride, and when he realized what was going on, he decided to leave Usopp to it, see what his son could do. He didn't doubt that he could do it, he was the future Pirate King's Sniper, after all... he'd been proud when his son lined Luffy up perfectly for the shot, even though his view was off to the side, and not direct. And the fact he could so accurately judge the distance and whether Luffy could make it... he was even prouder when he remembered that, by all accounts, his son didn't even carry a gun. But rather, a slingshot.

Nami just sighed and directed Franky to set a course to meet up with the _Red Force._ The whole time she was grumbling about impatient children.

When they got closer, they could hear cheers, laughter, good-natured teasing, and the sound of their captains indignant protests. Benn, Yasopp, and Roo shook their heads. "It's like the kid never left." Benn grumbled. The other two nodded in agreement. Yasopp even patted Benn on the shoulder in consolation. Benn glared at him with one eye while the other was covered up by his hand. Yasopp decided that staying near his son was a wise course of action... before he was put on chore duty for the next month.

"Hey, Captain, guess who we found!" Roo called once they were alongside. "Can we keep them this time?" He grabbed Luffy as the boy bounced past, looking at his captain pleadingly. They knew he was teasing by the smirk on his face. He knew they couldn't keep them, Anchor and the Captain had their promise.

"Hey!" Luffy whined and wiggled out of his hold. "I'm not some pet!" Shanks laughed, happy to see Luffy again. Luffy just pouted.

Before Shanks could call for another party (from the looks of things, they'd just had one the night before), Benn stepped in. "Quiet!" He called. Once he had everyone's attention. "You've been hearing about him practically his whole life. Now, you finally get to meet him." He reached over and grabbed Usopp's arm after his father spun the Strawhat in his direction. "This, is Usopp." Everyone cheered and welcomed the mini Red-haired pirate. It was long since decided that Usopp was one of them, even if they had never met him before. They certainly heard enough about him.

Shanks laughed and happily welcomed the Strawhats on board. "Party! Roo, you remember what Anchor's appetite was, break out the food!" He called.

"That's my cue. I have figured out some recipes and tricks to feeding Luffy without emptying the food stores, you'll need my expertise." Sanji said, coming forward to join Roo.

"Of course, hey captain!" Roo called over his shoulder. "You remember old Zeff?" When Shanks nodded, looking confused. "He now runs the sea-restaurant, Baratie, in the East Blue! This kid learned under him!" He pointed at Sanji.

"Well, then we're in for a treat, aren't we?" Shanks asked with a smirk. "I wondered what happened to that old chef... he always said he would retire from a pirate's life someday and open a restaurant." He mused, picking Luffy up with his one arm and situating the boy on his back absently. Luffy settled into his favorite place easily.

Benn smirked suddenly. "And you boys better watch out. Chopper here is a doctor trained by the Witch-doctor Kureha herself." He commented, laying a hand on Choppers head, and watched as the crew froze. They all turned towards the little reindeer mechanically.

Shanks paled. "Granny is still alive?" He asked, horrified.

"Granny?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah... that's what she had us call her... on the _Jackson_. Of course, that probably fueled the rumors..." He mumbled. He eyed Chopper warily, hoping he wasn't suddenly going to start chasing him around with any and every sharp, pointy object he could get his hands on. "You're not going to start chasing us around with scalpels and whatever else you can find, are you?"

Chopper shook his head, no. "I don't do that." He said, waving the Emperor off.

Zoro snorted. "He'll chase you with syringes and bandages." He said, smirking as Shanks relaxed, then tensed up again, eyeing Chopper.

"Well, maybe if you would stop taking your bandages off every time I turn around!" Chopper yelled, jumping on top of Zoro's head and shaking a hoof in his face.

Zoro just smirked fondly and reached up to pat the reindeer on the head, silently telling him to just sit down already. Chopper huffed, but settled down on Zoro's shoulder, like he always did. Shanks relaxed and grinned at seeing the dynamics between the Strawhats. The big one that you wouldn't think would be caught dead with a reindeer sitting on his shoulder, had absolutely no problem at all with the little doctor doing just that.

It didn't take long after that before the party really got started, Roo and Sanji got food for everybody out quickly. There was only one incident...

"Oh, hey, dad! You want to see my slingshot?" Usopp asked at some point. He was really proud of it, after all. He reached into his bag and pulled out both of them, his normal, smaller slingshot, and his big one. He'd managed to modify it so it would collapse down.

"Nice. I still can't believe you use a slingshot, but if that's what works..." Yasopp said as he inspected it. It looked simple, but he could see where they had Dials embedded in the sling, probably to give them just that little bit more distance. "What do you use for ammo, I can't imagine that normal lead balls would really cut it, there's not going to be the kind of speed behind them that a pistol would give." He looked at his son curiously.

Usopp smirked proudly and started pulling out the differently shaped containers holding his ammo. Including the pack of rubber bands, a bottle of alcohol, and a hammer. Yasopp picked up the alcohol and looked at him in question. "That's for the really pesky ones... throw a bottle of alcohol at them, and let them catch it. Then, break the bottle so they get covered in alcohol... And hit 'em with a Firebird Star." He held up the pellet. "The rubber bands are more for distraction then anything else... or if I need to tie something together." He said with a shrug.

"The hammer?"

"For those ones that just won't stay down!" That was very annoying!

Yasopp laughed. "What else you got?" They spent the next few minutes with Yasopp eyeing his son's slingshot ammo while Usopp described what it all did. A few were demonstrated by firing them out over the oceans. Yasopp was studying one of Usopp's special ones... the Pop-Greens he got from the carnivorous islands he was stranded on for two years. These ones, Usopp refused to demonstrate because he grew them, and they were a bit more difficult to replace than the others. Plus, it wouldn't be much of a demonstration over the water.

They were discussing the... rather unique ammunition, when somebody bumped into Yasopp from behind, sending him forward and also knocking the pellet out of his hand.

"Whoa! You alright?" Usopp asked, helping his father up. That's when he noticed the empty hand. He froze. "Where is the Pop-Green?" He asked slowly, looking around and hoping it fell into the ocean and not somewhere on the ship.

"I don't know, I just had..." He was cut off by the appearance of the giant plant that was grabbing everyone and attempting to eat them.

"Crap." Usopp said and rummaged in his bag for a second even while the crew start rallying to fight the monster that just appeared. He snatched his slingshot from where it was sitting on the ground next to them and took aim for a second, aiming for the middle, the 'heart' of the plant. "Special Firebird Star!" He made these ones specifically for cases like this, where he might need to get rid of one of his own plants. Otherwise, the plants were bred to be fire-resistant. This was the only fire that could burn them, Greek fire.

All the Red-haired pirates turned to look at Usopp in shock while the plant burned. They were shocked when Zoro came over, annoyed. "Oy, be more careful with those things! What have I said about playing around with them while we're at sea?" He asked before he jumped overboard. A few moments later, a small cyclone of water rushed over the ships railing and washed the burning plant overboard. Zoro jumped back on board a minute later, soaked, to find Nami waiting with a towel.

"I'm really tired of having to deal with that." He muttered before he ambled off to find more rum.

"Hey, Robin!" Usopp called, chasing after his weapons bag as a series of disembodied hands carrying it away. "Give that back!" Unfortunately, the bag disappeared into the girls room on the _Sunny_ before he could claim it back. Resulting in him coming back to the _Force_ dejected. "Robin!" He whined. She just raised an eyebrow and gave a pointed look at the charred and wet deck planks. He walked, dejected, back to his dad.

"Is anyone hurt?" Chopper asked after a moment of silence as the older pirate crew tried to figure out what just happened, they were honestly surprised at the quick actions on the Strawhats behalf, and how they seemed to have their roles down to a science. The Red-haired pirates looked around, and the party was resumed after it was confirmed that nobody was injured beyond a few scrapes and bruises that were easily checked and declared to be fine.

"Why didn't you just go in and get it?" Yasopp asked his son, curious.

Usopp looked at him in horror. "That's the girls room. We males aren't allowed in there, under any circumstances that don't involve life or death." He said in a panicked voice.

"Huh? Why, did something happen?" He asked. Well, aside from the fact that they were two girls on a ship full of men/boys.

Zoro snorted nearby. "Yeah, the love-cook happened." He said darkly. In reality, Sanji was a perfect gentlemen with the girls, even if he could stand to behave more like a normal human being around them and less like a love sick idiot. And it was only the one incident, but... still. The girls would rather not have a repeat of the event. No matter how much Sanji maintained that it was a complete accident.

That was the only incident between the two crews, there were some light spars between the two, up to the point where they were all too drunk for that to be in any way safe.

* * *

"It was good seeing you, again Anchor." Shanks said fondly while Luffy's crew got the _Sunny_ ready to go. Vivre cards had been exchanged, the Strawhats had been provided a Transponder Snail when it was discovered they hadn't gotten around to getting one yet, and numbers were passed around. "You got a good group there. You'll all watch out for each other."

"We will. We always watch out for each other." Luffy said with a grin.

"Ah, come here, you." Shanks finally said, pulling his Anchor into a hug. "Go on." He said when he pushed the boy away and back towards his own ship.

Back on his own ship, Luffy stood at the rail and watched as the two ships separated. While Shanks did the same from his own ship. "I'm glad we met up with them." Nami said, coming to stand beside her captain, and thinking about how all of the Strawhats made sure to thank Shanks for everything he'd ever done for their captain sometime during the party, before they all got too drunk.

"So am I." Luffy murmured. He grinned at her before bouncing away to find something to do, or someone to bother.


	16. Day on the Base

**This is before the Skypiea arc**

* * *

Nami hummed a little tune while she and Robin walked down the hallway.

The Strawhats had docked the _Merry_ on the far side of a little island with a Marine base and a town on it, and sent those members of the crew who actually knew how to not draw attention to themselves (Nami, Robin, Sanji, and Usopp) for supplies while the others (Chopper, Zoro and Luffy) guarded the ship.

Nami had reluctantly handed over the money for supplies, (sadly she wasn't allowed to charge interest because the supplies were for the crew, Luffy had found out she did that for the money she lent Zoro for his swords back in Logue Town, and had not been happy. He put his foot down and made it clear that any money being spent for the good of the crew, ie; weapons and supplies, were not to be charged interest. Oh, and everyone was to get an allowance when they reached an island to spend how they pleased. If they overspent and needed more than their allowance, then she could charge all the interest she wanted.) and she and Robin had taken off towards the Marine base after making sure the boys had the shopping lists.

And, of course, after making sure they (Usopp) _only_ spent the money on the needed supplies. If there was anything purchased that wasn't on the supply lists, they better be able to justify it as needed or it was going to be considered allowance and it would be deducted accordingly.

She also made sure Sanji knew Usopp was not to be allowed to handle the money, because he tended to get swindled a lot, and buy junk a lot. Sure, he could turn a lot of that junk into something usable, but he spent way too much on it! Oh, and she asked Sanji to be on the lookout for somewhere they could buy Transponder Snails. She was sick and tired of going into situations and not having a clue what was happening with the rest of her crew because they couldn't communicate. It was so annoying!

So, now here they were, strolling through the walls of the local Marine Base, disguised as regular Marine soldiers. She hadn't even bothered to look up the name of this base, if there was anybody strong stationed here, Robin would have mentioned it. She seemed to know all about that kind of stuff. She would ask how, but this wasn't exactly the first base the two of them had broken into and gone to work inside.

Hey, the crew had to be fed somehow, especially with a blackhole like Luffy for a captain. Not to mention keeping Zoro stocked up on booze and training equipment, Sanji on the freshest ingredients and replacing the occasional piece of equipment in the kitchens, Robins books, and Choppers medical supplies. And there was clothes for her, luckily paper and such for drawing maps wasn't expensive, but some of the stuff for Usopp's ammo could be. Especially in the quantities he needed it in. And then there was when he was experimenting with it.

It was so helpful that all these bases followed the same basic design.

Finally, they reached the hallway they were looking for. "Alright, the treasury should be this way, while the records room is that way. Meet back here in twenty?" Nami asked her companion with a bright smile, already mentally drooling at the thought of all the money she would find waiting for her. "Oh, and if you see a communications room with some Transponder Snails laying around, go ahead and grab them, yes?" She said. She had Sanji looking for some, sure. But she would prefer not to have to pay for them. Oh, well. She supposed that if he did buy some even after they stole some, it wouldn't be too much of a loss. They would have extras in the event of something (Luffy) happening.

"But of course." Robin said, quirking a small smile. The two girls clasped hands quickly before separating and going their own ways. Robin to add to her intelligence files, while Nami went to replenish the Strawhats Pirates monetary resources.

* * *

While Robin walked, she crossed her arms and formed eyes all over the base, one up high near the ceiling, in the corner of every room. No reason she couldn't find the communications room and make a quick detour after gathering her information, after all. As per usual, she also disabled the lone Recording Snail set up in the Base Treasury, while making it look like something had simply happened to the connection. Crossed wires, or something.

They would investigate soon enough, but by the time they did, the two girls would be long gone.

She smiled in satisfaction when she found the communications room, and was even more satisfied that it was near the records room. She decided to get her information first, then stop by there on her way to meet back up with Nami. "Ah, here we are." She murmured to herself when she entered the empty records room. Honestly, one would think that a Marine Base in the Grand Line would have better security than this. And, one would think that the Bases she and Nami had broken into between Alabasta and here would have spread the word, something.

But, nope. None of that happened, they were literally walking right in like they owned the place. Naturally, Robin had used her Fruit before they went in to scan the place for traps or additional men roaming the Base, but there had been nothing. So, they donned their disguises and walked right in like they themselves were Marines. It was kind of pathetic, to be honest.

She set down the duffle bag she'd brought with her (Marine issued, to further the disguise) and formed more arms around the room to start gathering files and start dropping them neatly in the bag. She would sort through the information later on and start adding to her own files. The information that was useless to her and the crew would be destroyed, while the rest would be looked over and any information that she didn't already have would be carefully added to her files.

Tonight she would return and pay a visit to the Bases library, and see what she could procure from there that she didn't already have, and still looked interesting.

Once she was satisfied she had everything, she moved towards the communications room, deftly knocking out the Marines inside before she moved in and took all the Snails they had. She mentally cheered when she found both a white and a black Snail. Those kinds were rare, one was used to make sure the signal couldn't be picked up and tapped into, while the other was so signals _could_ be picked up and tapped into, conversations listened in on. Of course, they would have to reconfigure the signals on these so they wouldn't be on a 'Marine only' frequency, but hey. That was doable. They would also need to 'program' a number into at least two of these. The mini Snails would be good for when the crew was separated. She even took the recording Snails and grabbed the camera Snail.

They could use these.

On an impulse, she stopped outside the door and went back inside to grab the small printer that was beside the camera Snail. No use having a camera if they couldn't print the pictures out after all.

Satisfied, she left the room and moved to join Nami.

* * *

Nami moved down the hallway, barely refraining from skipping. When she reached the room holding the safe, she carefully cracked the door open to check that it was empty before moving in and pulling her kit out of her bag. With that, she went to work cracking the safe open, something that was simple enough for a thief like her.

Honestly, she'd robbed pirates who had better security than the Marines did.

She squealed in delight when she saw the piles of money inside. Money, gold, even the odd piece of jewelry. Which was odd... unless of course it was confiscated from a pirate ship and they just hadn't sent it on to wherever the Marines kept stuff like that. Or sold it to fill the Treasury. It didn't take long before the safe was emptied out and the money was in her bag, although she had a minor panic moment when she realized that her bag was a little small. For a moment there, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to fit it all in.

The gold and jewelry would be sold or exchanged at various banks on different islands that they landed on. Not all at once, most of these small island banks wouldn't be able to handle transactions of this size. If they reached another kingdom or a bigger island, then that would be a different story and she would get all of it exchanged that she could.

Once the safe was empty, she closed it again and made it look like it was never touched, before she quickly searched the rest of the room to make sure she didn't miss anything before she carefully left, making sure there weren't any Marines nearby that could stop and question her about why she was in the Treasury. Satisfied the hallway was empty, she left to go find Robin.

"So? Good haul?" She asked quietly once they were together. Robin quirked one of her grins before unzipping part of the bag and showing the mess of Transponder Snails sitting inside, on top of folders and files. How all of it fit in there, was a mystery. And she knew Robin would be back later tonight to use the chaos provided by their break-in today so she could raid the library. "Nice. You even found a black and white one. Lets get out of here and get out of these uniforms so we can join the guys and make sure they got all the supplies." She suggested, and got an answering nod in reply.

"I take it you found everything you needed as well?" Robin asked, eyeing the bag that was a little bulkier than it normally was after one of these raids.

"Hm. They must have recently arrested a Pirate crew and confiscated everything, because its a bigger haul than normal and there were pieces of jewelry in there, too." Nami answered quietly.

"That's lucky. We should look into finding a shipwright at the next island, and with a bigger haul at this place, we should be able to. I think the next island is called, Jaya, judging by what I saw in the communications room. It's a pirate town, so we should be able to find something."

"Hmm. That's true. Usopp is good with small repairs, but he's no shipwright." Nami nodded after a moment of thought. "And we have been sailing for a while, plus the _Merry_ is more suited for the East Blue, not the Grand Line." She said in agreement. As much as she would rather not spend the money, having money would do them no good if the ship sank, especially since three of them were Devil Fruit users. That would really be bad.

The rest of the walk outside the Base was silent, and they were both glad to reach the stand of trees that they hid their real clothes in, even happier to get out of the Marine uniform. The Marine issued duffle bags ended up being stuffed into their own duffles to hide them and slung across the girls backs while they walked through town. "Is it just me, are the Marines pathetic?" Nami finally asked when they were changed and walking away to find the boys.

"Yes, I am surprised that the Bases we've run across on the past few islands haven't been more alert. Wouldn't the other bases have spread the word that somebody was emptying the records room and Treasury?" Robin wondered out loud. "I suggest either skipping the next base, or just being more cautious. It could be a trick to make us complacent, or let us grow lax about keeping an eye out." She warned.

"Hmm. I don't really want to skip the next base, though. But, I can see your point." Nami reluctantly agreed. Robin just hummed.

"Hey, there they are!" They heard. Looking around, they noticed Usopp waving at them as best as he could with his arms loaded down with bags. His backpack seemed full, and so did Sanji's duffel. So, they were reduced to carrying everything.

"Nami-Swan! Robin-Swan!" Sanji called in greeting. Nami just sighed. As much as she respected him for his fighting and cooking skills... she didn't really respect him much otherwise. Mostly because of _that_.

"Hey, guys. Did you get everything we needed?" Nami asked. "And how much extra did you get?" She narrowed her eyes at them.

"Nothing, believe it or not." Usopp retorted before Sanji could answer. "I figured I would come back with Robin tonight before the shops close and do some more personal shopping then. I have some new ammo in mind, and I need some things to experiment with. Oh, and we just have Choppers medical supplies left to get. And we didn't find any shops with Transponder Snails yet."

She frowned. "Well, don't worry about the Transponders. Robin raided the Bases communications room." Robin smiled.

"Ah, sweet!" Usopp cheered.

"Why don't Robin and I finish the shopping while you guys take everything you already have back to the ship?" She suggested, feeling generous. Must have been the massive haul she was currently carrying. "Our arms are still empty."

"Oh, really? Thanks!" Usopp said happily.

"No, that's alright, you ladies can go on ahead. Go and relax." Sanji said, his gentlemen's side flaring up.

"Hey." Usopp said, annoyed. "Didn't you just say some of this needed to be put in the fridge right away? We should get going while it's still good."

"We appreciate the offer, Mr. Cook. But we wouldn't mind the chance to walk around some more. And if you really have things that need to be put away or they'll spoil..." Robin said diplomatically.

Sanji seemed to visibly wilt. "Alright. If you're sure..." He said, looking at them.

"Here, the list of what he wanted is in my front pocket." Usopp said, gesturing with his chin towards his left hip. Robin formed an arm to reach in and grab the paper while Nami kept Sanji distracted so he didn't cause a scene in the street.

Once the boys were walking away, Nami shook her head. "You know, I would have a lot more respect for him if he didn't treat us like he does. Although..." She mused. "I suppose the treats and stuff he keeps making just for us are nice..." Robin giggled a little in agreement.

"Come on. Lets find a pharmacy." She said, turning around and stealthily forming her arms. She may not mind the extra walk, welcome it even, but that didn't mean she wasn't fully aware of the stolen property both she and Nami were carrying on their backs. "This way."

"Hey, what all is on that list, anyway?" Nami asked, curious. Robin handed it to her. "Bandages... pain medication, thread, gauze and medical tape... burn salve? I thought we grew the herbs and stuff for Chopper to make his own." She commented.

Robin closed her eyes in thought. "If I remember correctly... those plants were badly damaged in the fight last week. We aren't going to be able to harvest anything from them for a while." She said slowly.

"Oh yeah!" Nami remembered now. A couple of her tangerine trees were damaged, too. She was having to give them some extra care to ensure she didn't lose them. Then she winced. They saved a lot of money by growing their own medicinal plants and the like. Having to buy those medicines for a while was going to put a small dent in their food budget. Especially if they were going to look into getting the _Merry_ looked at by a professional.

Well, unless they could kidnap that professional into just joining the crew and sailing with them permanently.

She went back to the list. "Are we going to be able to buy these vaccines? One would think stuff like these would be regulated more."

"Well... if they refuse to sell them to us since we're not doctors... we can always either steal them, which Chopper would not appreciate hearing about, or we could bring Chopper into town later on so he can buy them himself. He is the one with the credentials, after all." Robin speculated.

"True. The rest of this looks fairly normal. Although I don't remember when we would have used all this." Nami shook her head.

"I think a lot of it was lost in that attack a week ago, too. Remember, they caused quite a bit of damage." Nami winced again.

"We need a better way of protecting some of the important stuff on the _Merry_." She grumbled. Honestly, they had the fridge fortified so that not even a Marine battleship could blast it apart, but medical supplies and such got destroyed in fights with small time pirates? That was kind of messed up. She thought for a few minutes. "I think we can spare some money to get a few cabinets and a little fridge for the store room Chopper has claimed as his Infirmary fortified like the fridge in the kitchen is..." She said thoughtfully. "But it would probably mean allowance is cut a bit for a few islands."

Robin chuckled. "I'm sure nobody will mind the sacrifice too much." She said, amused. "Here we are." They had arrived.

"Excuse me, can we get this list filled out?" Nami asked the woman at the counter, handing it over.

"Hmmm... I would need to see doctor's credentials for the vaccines, but I can sell you everything else no problem." She said, looking at the female Strawhats.

"Oh, our ships doctor wrote that out, we're just the supply runners." She said, not really wanting to have to have Chopper come back later. She would rather have all their supplies now, before Luffy got loose from the ship and they had to get out of town before reinforcements were called and the Marines were made aware that the Strawhats were in the area at the same time as the Treasury, records room, and communications room were all cleaned out.

"No credentials, no vaccines." She said sternly before she started moving around the store, collecting everything on the list.

The girls looked at each other. "Once we get back to the ship and set everything down, Chopper and I can come back." Robin said reasonably. Nami sighed, but nodded. Luffy had to be getting bored. Which meant they only had so long before he made a ruckus.

Once the list was filled, and Nami reluctantly handed over the money, the girls made their way back to the ship, where they handed the medical supplies off to Chopper to put them away while they put their haul in their respective areas to go through later. "Chopper, we're going to need to go back into town, we were able to get everything but the vaccines, the lady refused to sell those unless we could show her credentials." Robin called to the little reindeer once she had her stuff set down.

"Oh!" He said, surprised. He honestly hadn't even thought of that. "Give me a moment!" He said, going to rummage through the safe Nami bought for him in Alabasta, just for the crews medical records and the rest of his important documents, like his credentials. He'd panicked when they left Drum, thinking he left his papers behind, only to go through his bag later on and find his papers carefully tucked away inside. Of course, he'd also panicked, thinking he'd left his bag behind, until it was revealed to be sitting in the back of the sled. He pulled his bag out, put the papers inside along with a cloak, and shifted into his natural form before going to meet Robin to finish out his shopping.

"Here." Nami met them before they could leave. "Since we got a bigger haul than usual, go ahead and get the stuff we talked about, to keep the medical supplies safer." Nami said, again reluctantly handing over the money. "And, here's one of the mini Snails you grabbed. Usopp already matched frequencies for these two. I'll call when Luffy gets loose. If anybody needs me, I'll be in the money room, counting up what we have and dividing it up between our various needs. Oh, and cataloging the treasure I got. Robin, did you leave your bag in our room?" She asked before she left.

"Yes."

"Alright, then I'm going to go ahead and make a space somewhere for the Snails before I deal with the money haul." She said after thinking for a moment. "Usopp can mess with them, then." She decided. They would need to be tinkered with to make sure they weren't on any Marine frequencies anymore.

As she walked away, she lamented the thought that the _Merry_ was getting a little crowded. Already, they'd had to rearrange one of the store rooms so they could use the other one so Chopper could have a space to work. It was no infirmary, but he made it work. When Robin came on board, they'd had to clean out the room Zoro used for his weights and such to keep her files on _everyone_. And, then, of course, she'd had to turn the small map room into the ships treasury once she started raiding Marine Bases treasuries so they could stay fed, clothed, and armed.

She had just sat down to count everything, when she stopped and sighed after she heard Luffy yelling, and then silence... meaning they were probably going to have to leave soon because he was probably going to cause a scene. She called Robin real quick, already thinking that snatching these Snails was the best idea she'd ever had. "Robin, he's already loose. Keep an eye out, but if you hear a commotion, you should head back. Because we'll be taking off as soon as everybody is on board."

Robin sighed. "Alright, we'll get the rest of Chopper's medicine real quick, then I'll send him back to the ship while I go investigate the Base library real quick." She said. She knew that the Captain didn't always cause a commotion, he did have a sense of when it was and wasn't appropriate, after all. But, she also knew just how unpredictable he was.

Sometimes she wondered if joining them was really the right call... then she remembered moments like this, just walking down the road, chatting as if she wasn't the Devil Child, and she knew it was the right call.

Sure enough, that was the day when the Marines finally learned who it was that had left a string of empty Base Treasuries in their wake.

The Strawhat Pirates.


	17. The Phoenix Rises: pt 1

Marco watched as the boy ran forward, knocking Marines out of way left and right. He almost felt sorry for the Marines, that was a rookie on a mission.

Almost.

"Kids going to get himself killed." He commented casually.

"Hmm." Pops hummed. Marco glanced at him and felt like cursing. If they weren't in the middle of a war right now, his Pops would be trying to recruit (kidnap) the boy. He knew that look in his pops eyes, he got it every time, and they always ended up with a new sibling because of it. "Keep him safe." Pops finally said.

Marco just shot him a Look and went to join the fight, despite his surprise that Pops would care enough about the brat to want him safe, too. He made sure to pass the orders around, and he himself kept somewhat close to the boy. The more he watched the kid, the more he found himself reluctantly impressed. The kid had potential.

A lot of potential.

He could fight, that was for sure. But he wasn't quite there yet. Not for this kind of battlefield. Not for the New World. Somehow, he wasn't surprised when it was announced that the boys father was the Revolutionary Dragon himself... He supposed he should have seen that coming, considering that Ace referred to Garp as his adopted grandfather, while Luffy was the mans biological grandson...

He quickly shook off thoughts of the boys heritage, and focused on the fight, and keeping the kid safe as he charged forward like a reckless little idiot.

What was... oh, look. He's unlocked his Haki... but he had no idea how to use it or even what just happened. Marco absently wondered if he'd even ever heard of it before.

Oh yes, this kid definitely had potential.

He could just use a year or two of good, solid training in a few disciplines... one of which being _discipline_ itself, otherwise he was going to keep just charging forward recklessly. He was a captain, he couldn't afford to do that, not when his crew was going to get dragged along with him, and he couldn't always be there to protect them. He also needed training in how to effectively use his Haki. Him and his whole crew could use about a year, especially the crew if he was the strongest of the bunch, and even he wasn't ready.

However, potential meant nothing if the kid died here today. He sped forward and snapped a kick aimed for a Marines head as the soldier tried to sneak up on Ace's little brother. The force of his kick snapped the mans neck. Landing, he spun around and scooped up the fallen Marines sword before completing his spin and bringing it up to block another Marines sword aimed at him. Normally, he didn't use swords. Despite the fact that he was quite the accomplished swordsman. It just wasn't his style.

He smirked at the surprise on the Marines face before swiftly ending his life, leaving his borrowed sword buried in the other man's chest, straight through his heart.

A quicker death than any of these Marines deserved for trying to take one of his brothers from them.

A much quicker death than the Phoenix was satisfied with, that was for sure.

He's busy snapping more Marines necks with a single kick, or caving in chest cavities, when he hears something over the din of the battle field, something that does not belong. A screech of metal grinding against metal, and breaking ice.

He looked up in icy horror to see a giant wall rising from the ice, surrounding the plaza and trapping the Whitebeard pirates in the bay. _No_...

After watching Pops attempt to break the wall down with his powerful Devil Fruit abilities, and _fail_ , for the first time in years, he wondered if they hadn't gotten in over their heads, if they could walk out of this one. Watching Akainu's meteor's falling on his trapped siblings was more than he, the Phoenix, could tolerate.

A little known fact about him... he never ate a Devil Fruit. That was something he let people believe so as to attract less attention, (and keep the Celestial Dragons from getting any ideas about hunting for his homeland). And now, the Phoenix was beginning to shriek for blood.

He quickly tamped down on his instincts, going out of control here wasn't going to do anyone any good, he needed to be able to think, and plan out his next moves. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and he mentally sighed when he saw the Strawhat brat be thrown back and start to struggle back to his feet. He had reached his limits. (He quickly signaled to Second Division member, who took the boy out of the fight with a well practiced chop to the back of the neck, using Haki, of course. The boy was then taken to the Allied ships waiting just out of sight on the other side of the island, coated and drifting just beneath the surface, carrying medical personnel.)

And Ace was reaching his... He was up there, on the platform, screaming for them to leave, that he didn't want them getting hurt or killed over him.

His mood deteriorated further when he overheard what the Marines standing on the wall, watching as meteors rained down on the trapped pirates, said about him. They didn't care that he was a Whitebeard or an accomplished pirate himself, it was as if they'd forgotten those facts. All they cared about was that he was the son of Gol D. Roger. A man who was dead for over a year before Ace was even born. It was bad enough when the Marines tore through the South Blue, killing infants and young toddlers under the _rumor_ that Roger _might_ have a child.

They didn't care that he was a Whitebeard Pirate. Didn't care that he was the Second Division Commander. Didn't care in the slightest that he was Fire-Fist Ace, or that he spat in their faces when he rejected the offer of Warlord status.

No, they didn't care about any of that in the slightest. All they cared about was that he was the Pirate Prince. This was one of Ace's greatest fears come true... that he would never be remembered for his own doing, his own accomplishments... he would be surprised if the world even remembered that Ace was a Whitebeard after this was over.

And it was ticking the Phoenix off.

He growled and flew up in a rush of flames with an angry trill. He wasn't surprised when most of the Whitebeard's cringed until they remembered where they were and that the Marines deserved every bit of the Phoenixes wrath. It was rare they saw him this angry, but when he was... even the hardest of his brothers and sisters could never stomach watching.

While meteor's fell on his crew, his family, Marco flew straight for the Admirals. Haki and flames flaring angrily.

Perhaps it was by virtue of his heritage as a Phoenix, but of the entirety of the Whitebeard fleet, Marco had the strongest Haki, even stronger than Pops himself, although he didn't have Conqueror's. He also happened to be a better flyer than the Marines were Snipers. Even the Snipers on the rooftops surrounding the plaza. He trilled smugly when he heard their surprise while the Whitebeard's behind him cheered him on.

Narrowing his eyes, he dive-bombed Akainu, the main threat to the Whitebeard's currently trapped in the bay... He would take out this threat, and then he would go straight for Ace. Akainu narrowed his own eyes and reared back to throw a punch with his hand coated in magma.

Marco mentally smirked before suddenly turning human again at the last moment, dodging the magma fist without revealing any of his tricks or his real strength with Haki. The sudden change in size and form surprised the Admiral, and he was thrown off guard long enough to find a sea-stone dagger buried in his chest. He started carrying it not long after the death of the Second Division commander before Ace, all those years ago. It was a birthday gift from the man, and he kept it in a hidden pocket sewn into the inside seam of his jacket. Few even knew he had it.

He smirked smugly and triumphantly at hearing the Marines watching behind him start screaming in terror at one of their precious Admirals being taken out like that. Good, now they were demoralized... many should throw down their weapons now, and those who didn't would be too terrified and panicked to be of much more use.

(What nobody knew, was that Buggy and the other escaped prisoners were still recording and broadcasting everything, and people around the world who were gathered to watch or listen to the feed were in a state of panicking. Some were rioting, others (the Revolutionaries) were celebrating.)

His Haki blared before he jumped to the side, avoiding the attacks from the two remaining Admirals. He avoided another attack by jumping up and over the still standing (but falling backwards) Admiral, making the attacks hit the dying man and do additional damage.

Marco figured he'd overstayed his welcome in this area of the battlefield and wrenched his knife upwards, taking the Admiral's head and ensuring he wouldn't miraculously recover after the sea-stone was gone. (It had been known to happen with Logia's, especially the more control they had over their element). Also, negating the possibility of him getting medical attention in time. He didn't think medical attention would work at this point, but better safe than sorry.

He quickly pocketed his knife before flying up in another rush of blue flames, barely dodging an attack from the Fleet Admiral himself, who seemed to have finally gotten over his shock at Akainu being killed. He rushed for the platform, feeling a bullet rip through his wings, only to heal a second later without affecting his flight in the slightest, going by the exclamations of surprise and terror, that bullet was sea-stone. Great... his cover is being blown.

Ah, who cares anymore? His family is in trouble. Unless he went all out here and now, they actually stood a chance of not surviving this. Of being destroyed.

Tucking his wings in slightly to add speed, he flew right past Garp, landed beside Ace, and wrapped his arms around him before taking off again, taking part of the platform itself with them as the chains holding Ace down ripped free of the wood. Ace grunted in pain when his shoulders threatened to dislocate, and Marco trilled a soft apology, for now focusing on getting higher and higher, so that the Snipers had less chance of reaching them, so that the Fleet Admiral, Admirals, and Garp had less chance of reaching them.

His Haki blared another warning, and he dodged as quickly as he could, turning so that his back was to Admiral Kizaru. If he was hit, he would heal. Ace... not so much. Especially covered in sea-stone chains as he was.

He continued dodging until he finally reached the Whitebeard's side of the wall, and Pops was right there waiting for them, punching Kizaru in the face with a Haki covered, Devil Fruit powered fist. Much to the cheers and excitement of his brothers.

He trilled sadly when he noticed the _Moby Dick_ burning. Silently, he was grateful that everything of any value had already been removed from their home and left behind in the New World with the nursing staff guarding it.

However, that didn't make the destruction of their home any easier to bear.

Whitebeard glanced at him and sighed. "I know, my son. I know."

Marco landed and changed back, setting Ace on his feet, or trying to. He was weak, from both his imprisonment and the sea-stone shackles suppressing his power. The Second Division was there in a second, grabbing their beloved commander from his grasp before he knew what was happening and spiriting the tired, and protesting, hothead away, towards the medical ship where they'd taken Luffy. Jozu and Vista went with them to stave off the Warlord's and Vice-Admirals or above that might try to come after Ace, keep him from escaping with them.

The measure was needed as Sengoku, Garp, the two remaining Admirals (Kizaru's sunglasses and nose were broken, and he was missing a few teeth. He also looked like he was barely conscious), and the Warlord's appeared before them, blocking the path.

"Hold on... shouldn't there be a third Admiral?" Izo asked cautiously, looking around as if expecting Akainu to show up out of nowhere and attack.

"Akainu won't be a problem anymore." Marco informed the Whitebeard's in satisfaction. He thought he detected a hint of smug satisfaction in Garp's gaze as well... well, it wasn't exactly a secret that Garp couldn't stand Akainu. Found his methods to be too harsh and unforgiving, or something. Marco's fellow commanders all raised an eyebrow in his direction, but decided not to ask when they saw the bloodlust still in his gaze. The Phoenixes wrath wasn't appeased yet, he was still out for the blood of those who would harm his family.

"This is unforgivable. None of you are escaping here today. None of you." Sengoku whispered darkly in promise, shaking in rage. Ace, safely being held on his feet in the middle of a protective circle of his men, bit his lip in worry for his family. Although, after the display Marco had put on, he was admittedly a little less worried than before.

With a rumble and another screech of metal, the wall that the Marines had raised to trap the Whitebeard's, was lowered so that those same Marines could actually reach their targets. The Whitebeard's murmured at seeing Akainu's headless body, still lying on the platform the Admiral's had been sitting on earlier.

"What I want to know..." Kizaru drawled slowly, and with difficulty, "Is why the Phoenix here, wasn't affected by sea-stone earlier. He was in contact with the Fire-Fists cuffs, but he was still able to fly and use his Zoan fruit as if he wasn't." He tilted his head curiously.

Marco smirked, although inwardly he was sweating and cursing. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He challenged.

Sengoku's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I really would." He muttered. The Phoenix not being affected by sea-stone could be a problem... that regeneration he had made him difficult to fight because even the most fatal of injuries were normally healed seconds later as if they never happened.

"Sorry, but that's information I'll take to the grave." Marco said, getting into position to defend or attack, whichever happened first. And, considering Phoenixes were semi-immortal, he wouldn't be going to the grave for a long time yet.

Everything was brought to a halt when they all heard a familiar sound. "Zehahahahahahaha! Well, this is quite the turn-around!"

Before anybody could blink, Marco was in front of him, lips pulled back in a silent snarl.

* * *

Did Akainu be taken out too quick? Possibly. I kind of used his arrogance against him, in this. Just a bit.

No, Marco is not over-powered. He took Akainu by surprise, and used his full speed and maneuverability in the air to his advantage. Although he does kind of hold back normally so as to hide the truth of his Phoenix heritage.


	18. The Phoenix Rises: pt 2

Part 2

 _"Sorry, but that's information I'll take to the grave." Marco said, getting into position to defend or attack, whichever happened first. And, considering Phoenixes were semi-immortal, he wouldn't be going to the grave for a long time yet._

 _Everything was brought to a halt when they all heard a familiar sound. "Zehahahahahahaha! Well, this is quite the turn-around!"_

 _Before anybody could blink, Marco was in front of him, lips pulled back in a silent snarl._

The Whitebeard Pirates were angry. They wanted the blood of the one who betrayed them.

The one who killed Thatch.

The one who turned Ace over to the Marines.

The reason they were _here,_ on this battlefield.

However, none were more angry than the Phoenix. Before Teach could get many words out, before anybody could do or say anything about his presence, Marco was on him. He willed his flames to _burn_ , something he never did for fear of hurting those around him that he cared about or drawing attention, and his talons gleamed.

Sharp and deadly.

Everyone, Marines included, watched in shock as the normally laid back Commander clawed, scratched, burned, and pecked, tearing the bigger man apart as much as he could. The Whitebeards privately thought that, while they had seen Marco lose it before, it had never been like _this_. This was a whole new level, and some of them honestly didn't know whether to fear the guy (even more than they already did... guy could be scary when he was dishing out punishments or assigning chores...) or appreciate him even more. Mostly, they were just glad he was on _their_ side, and not another pirate crew... or worse, a _Marine_.

It didn't escape anyone's attention that the first thing Marco went for, was his shirt sleeve hiding the location of his Whitebeard mark. That mark didn't stay intact for long. The Whitebeard's all grinned viciously, and gleefully. That mark was perhaps the most important thing to any of them. They would all rather die than let that mark become damaged.

This traitor didn't deserve to wear it.

The Blackbeard Pirates were the first to recover, and they went on the attack themselves, managing to get a few hits in on Marco in an attempt to protect their captain before the Whitebeards reacted. Most of the Commanders went to help hold back the Admirals while a few came to help deal with the Traitors crew. Jozu and Vista of course stayed with the Second Division in getting their commander off the battlefield. Vista was working on picking the locks as they ran so the flame-head wasn't completely helpless.

However, if anybody had been paying attention, they would have noticed that Ace had encouraged them to run towards the _Moby_ first, as soon as they got these cuffs off him, he should be able to put the fire out, and maybe their home could still be salvaged. They would need to do some extensive repairs, of course, but... as long as the keel was undamaged, it could all be repaired.

No, nobody noticed because they were all too busy fighting still. Fighting against the Marines, fighting against the Blackbeard's... luckily the only Warlord still fighting was Boa Hancock, but _she_ seemed to be fighting everybody in general, so... although she did seem to be taking out more Marines than she was Whitebeard's, so there was that. She even took out a few of Blackbeard's men. And... the Whitebeard's she turned to stone woke up a few minutes later as well, while the Marines stayed stone.

Huh.

It was during a brief lull in the fighting, when Marco stopped to catch his breath and study his handiwork, that Sengoku was finally able to level his own accusations towards Teach. "Teach! Their presence better not mean what I think it means." He growled, gesturing towards the former prisoners with the Whitebeard traitor.

"Zehahaha!" He choked put a laugh, somehow still alive even if he was currently on his knees. "Of course it does, Admiral! All of this is going exactly how I planned it!" Well, except for getting mauled by Marco. Or, Marco taking out Akainu and freeing Ace. Akainu and Whitebeard hadn't even had a chance to fight, therefore weakening Whitebeard enough for him to come in and finish the job. Blast it all, he wanted the Tremor-Tremor fruit! It would be perfect for him, such power at his fingertips... and he just didn't understand why his current Fruit wasn't cancelling out Marco's! This shouldn't be happening right now... it was very concerning.

Otherwise, though. Everything was going exactly according to plan.

"I suppose I should thank the Strawhat brat though, he caused such a commotion at the prison, it was even easier than I expected to get in and out with the ones I wanted!" He laughed again. As if freeing some of the worse criminals to sail the seas had been a mere shopping trip. Marco narrowed his eyes and crouched to attack again when one of Vista's division showed up beside him and handed him something while whispering in his ear.

He narrowed his eyes, but nodded his understanding of what Haruta wanted him to do. It was a good idea, when a Devil Fruit user died, their Fruit reappeared in the closest piece of normal fruit. If he died here, than that would mean leaving the thing somewhere on Marineford, in the hands of the Marines. This Fruit was too dangerous for _anyone_ to have, especially the Marines.

So, Marco was given a piece of fruit so he could stick around for a little longer once the Traitor died and harvest the Dark-Dark Fruit. Maybe leave it with Shanks or Rayleigh afterward... they did know how to get to Raftel after all, they were two of the few in the world who knew where it was, they could hide it there. (He was pretty sure that when Rayleigh wasn't on Sabaody, getting drunk and selling himself off in the auction houses to pay his debts, he was tucked away on Raftel).

Or he could take it back to his home island for safe keeping. The Marines didn't even know they existed, and Phoenixes would have no need to eat it. He didn't even know if Phoenixes _could_ eat it. Hmmm, it had been a while since he visited last, his parents would be happy to see him. So would his nest-mates. His sister Marlene would probably start chatting his ear off... maybe he should send it with a messenger pigeon instead of actually going there.

He growled and attacked again, while around him, the Marines and Whitebeards worked together (unwillingly and unknowingly) to take Blackbeard's crew down. The crew had only been safe to this point because they were the crew of a Warlord, but now that said Warlord had proven himself to be a traitor, he was free game. Although, the crew members he recruited from Impel Down were proving to be difficult to fight. Understandable since they had been held on the sixth level, where only the worst of the worst go, where they are sent to be forgotten... as if they never existed in the first place.

Although, they avoided Marco's fight completely, not wanting to get caught up in the flames. Well... the Marines made it a point of shooting at them, guns or cannons didn't matter, and more than a few hit Marco, but they didn't affect him, so who cared.

Marco had just delivered a flaming spin kick to Teach's head, knocking out a few more teeth, when a cheer went up throughout the pirates. He landed, and took a moment to glance over, and trilled happily when he saw Ace standing there, unshackled, with his hand on the hull of a _no longer burning Moby Dick._

Once the fire on the _Moby_ was out, the Second Division boarded and put the permanent coating (luckily it survived the fire) to good use in getting their home out of further danger. Marco assumed they were making their way towards the medical ship they had taken Strawhat to. He knew for a fact that the only way Ace hadn't come to join the fighting, was because they must have given him a job to do, like getting their home out of there and maybe even protecting their medical ship. That was the only way to get him to turn his back on a fight.

With Ace now gone, and to safety, (Aokiji was being kept busy so he didn't have time to refreeze the bay before they could go deep enough for him to no longer be an annoyance) the Whitebeards could start retreating back towards the allies ships, while Whitebeard and their commanders worked on keeping what was left of the Marine top-brass busy.

It was considered very lucky, although also concerning, that Garp had disappeared not long after finding out Akainu was dead.

While all this was happening, Marco and Teach continued their fight, with Teach accumulating more and more injuries, while any injuries Marco sustained healed instantly. Although, the constant regeneration was starting to take its toll. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken this much damage in a fight, the constant regeneration was exhausting!

One by one, Teaches men fell. They were either taken out by the Pacifista, the Commanders, or Kizaru. The Admiral didn't seem to care that he was currently fighting alongside pirates, he seemed to have decided that the Blackbeard pirates were a bigger threat to the world. Possibly a bigger threat than the Whitebeard's could ever hope to be, if they had ever been so inclined. He had no problem helping the Whitebeard's out... just this once.

Marco was surprised when Garp showed back up, and got between them before delivering a right hook that knocked out the few remaining teeth Marco had yet to go for. The Phoenix frowned. "This is my fight. Stay out." He growled, making his displeasure at being interrupted known.

"Ace is my grandson. He was my family longer than you knew he was alive, boy." Garp returned evenly, meeting Marco's glare with a calm look that barely hid just how furious he was at this whole situation. It was a murderous rage that had been building up since the moment he was told Portgas D. Ace had been captured and that Gol. D Ace was going to be executed.

Sengoku seemed to think that he was doing Garp a favor by keeping his involvement with Ace's upbringing a secret. Garp almost preferred to let the world know that _he_ was the one to hide the Pirate Prince away and raise him. Well... drop in from time to time while he raised himself, ah, same difference.

Marco huffed, but didn't say anything more. After a moment, he turned to glare at the Traitor again. "He's more durable than I expected." He grumbled. They both watched as Teach slowly pulled himself back to his feet, wincing and feeling at his mouth.

"Hm, yes I was surprised that he was still alive." Garp eyed Marco out of the corner of his eye.

The Phoenix crossed his arms, unrepentant. "Didn't you know some predators like to play with their prey?" He asked sarcastically. Although, truthfully, him being alive wasn't for lack of trying because he wanted to play.

Not at all.

How annoying.

"Wasn't expecting this to be play-time." Garp deadpanned.

Marco's glare at Teach deepened as he crossed his arms. "Like I said, he's more durable than I was expecting." And no, he was _not_ pouting.

(The last person to accuse him of pouting had earned himself two months of kitchen duty... with Marco purposefully organizing extra large meals and feasts. He was in charge of cleaning _all_ the dishes with nobody allowed to help him... and nobody even tried, not wanting to risk the Phoenixes wrath.)

Garp turned to stare incredulously, ignoring Teach for the moment. Marco's not-pout turned back into a full glare that promised extreme violence if the Marine didn't drop it. Garp glanced at the damage done to Teach and did the smart thing.

"You know what will happen to his Devil Fruit if he dies here, right?" Garp asked quietly, as they continued to watch Teach. Marco said nothing, merely pulled the banana out of his pocket. With a sigh of relief, Garp quickly explained that the Dark-Dark Fruit was on a short list of Devil Fruits that were to be handed straight to the World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons, if found.

The last thing the world needed was those spoiled, arrogant, pompous bastards to get their hands on a Fruit that powerful. That would be a nightmare and a half.

Sengoku was aware of that, and he'd whispered to Garp once Marco started going after Teach that he honestly trusted these pirates with the Fruit before he ever would the Government. Let alone those over-grown, spoiled children who thought the world jumped on their command.

Marco grunted, unsurprised at everything Garp just told him. This was a powerful Fruit, of course they would want it for their collections, if one of them didn't just eat it and do what they did best. Ruin lives.

The _only_ decent World Nobles out there, lived in a prosperous desert nation towards the beginning of Paradise. Well, it was prosperous, they were still recovering from the civil war... it only ended a few months ago, after all.

Marco sighed at the thought, the world was so messed up.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when the Traitor yelled and started preparing an attack with his Devil Fruit, before Marco could react, he was being pulled towards him. He only sighed in annoyance, this again? The man kept using gravity on him, and it never worked because the injuries merely healed a moment later, or the man only got burned in the attempt whenever he touched Marco's flames. Why did he keep using the same attacks over and over again, even though it was obviously not working?

Unless... he still hadn't figured out how to properly use his Fruit?

By this point, most of the pirates had made it to the ships and were sailing away or guarding the ships so the Commanders or other siblings still out on the battleground could safely board. Most of those on the battleground were gathering the wounded while being covered by others, at this point. The Marines were doing the same to their fallen comrades, while the Vice-Admirals and higher were the only ones still fighting the Commanders and Whitebeard himself. Kizaru had managed to pull himself together from the punch Whitebeard delivered, but they could tell that serious damage had been done, and he wasn't as fast as he normally was. As a result, once he was done with the Traitors men, he let himself be tag-teamed and knocked out by three commanders.

But that's not important. Marco let himself be pulled closer, no use expending his own energy to get closer when the man was kind enough to bring him closer himself, before he exploded into motion and went back to kicking, clawing, and burning. This time, he managed to take an eye.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that your playing more than you like to admit right now." Garp muttered as he joined the fight with a full powered punch. Out of nowhere, he pulled out a cannonball and threw it at Teach too, making sure Marco was out of the way, of course. Senny told him, he didn't care how many Whitebeards escaped anymore, as long as Teach did not leave this battlefield alive. All this, only happened because of Teach. This, was all part of a plan. And if this man could manipulate things to this extent, then he was too dangerous even to be locked away in Level 6.

He needed to go.

Senny also told him to find a way to capture the First Division Commander so they could figure out what exactly he was. Because Sea-Stone wasn't working on him, so either he built up a resistance to it (supposed to be impossible) or he wasn't a Devil Fruit user. Phoenixes were supposed to be myths...

Of course, he wasn't even entertaining the idea of trying to capture the firebird. He could only imagine the lengths Marco's people would go to in order to get him back and make sure they weren't found. It took him a long time to build up a trust with the Phoenixes, he didn't want to destroy that. That was a story for another time, though.

"Marco!" A commander shouted. "Time to go!" They were the only ones still fighting, guarding a ship from the top-brass. In response, Marco merely flew up and grabbed the Traitor by the back of his shirt, making sure to dig his talons into skin, and clamped his beak over the struggling mans neck before twisting his hard to the side, hard. A sick cracking sound later, and the man went limp. He waited long enough for the banana to change shape into a Devil Fruit before he took off into the air again, heading for home.

The others saw him coming and quickly boarded and used the coating on the ship. Marco was careful not to poke a hole in the bubble when he shot through it and landed on the mast, just as they disappeared beneath the waves.

A shout of alarm caused him to look up at the ice that was quickly spreading... faster than they could dive. Marco, still in bird form, trilled in worry before laying one wing on the coating and concentrating. He had to be careful not to pop the bubble, but if he could heat the water up enough... it might be uncomfortably warm, but better than being frozen.

He trilled in triumph when the ice stopped and a visible tug-of-war started. The ice would advance, the ice would melt, advance, melt, and so on until they reached a depth that was out of the Ice-Admirals reach.

"Well done, son." Whitebeard said with an appreciative chuckle. Marco trilled smugly and winged his way down to the deck, where he turned back into a human.

"I hate ice." Was the only thing he said. And he really did. It was one of the few things that could kill a Phoenix, after all (in large enough quantities). He yawned. "I think I'm going to sleep for a week. Here's the Traitor's Devil Fruit." He held it out to his Pops, trusting him to take care of it until they could get it somewhere safer.

Whitebeard merely frowned at it once it was in his hands. "So much trouble started, for one small fruit." He muttered angrily. "When you say 'sleep for a week', do you mean literally, or..." He wanted to know how many of the First Division commanders work would need to be passed on while they recovered.

"Literally." Marco said, and passed out right there.

It had been a very long time since he'd ever taken that much damage in one fight.


	19. Luffy- Trust the Crew

Luffy sat on his seat, thinking. He could hear Nami in her cabin behind him, getting Vivi settled in and making sure she had everything she needed, while also reassuring her that everything would be alright. He could hear Usopp at the base of the stairs, in the spot he had more-or-less claimed as his workshop area. He was making more ammunition, already preparing for the fight they would see once they reached Vivi's country. Sanji was in the kitchen, making something to calm Vivi down and hopefully help her sleep after the long day and the loss of her guard.

He couldn't hear Zoro, though.

He sighed.

Zoro had walked away without a word as soon as that other woman (the one with eyes like Ace's when they met, her eyes screamed at him to help her) left. Normally, he would come up here and sit behind Luffy on the deck, and they would talk, or sit and enjoy each other's company in silence, depending on what they felt like that night.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd gone too far back in that town, now that he was thinking straight and knew the full story, Zoro had tried to explain why he attacked those people, Luffy just hadn't listened.

Hadn't trusted him.

He'd trusted those people more than he trusted his Nakama, because they fed him.

With a soft sigh, he flipped backward off the figurehead, and looked down at the spot Zoro usually occupied sadly, then he went to find his swordsman.

He found him, in the men's quarters, lying on his hammock with his hands behind his head. His swords were carefully propped against the wall, inside the little slots that Usopp had carefully installed so they didn't go flying everywhere whenever they hit some rough seas.

Luffy didn't say anything, merely crawled carefully into the hammock beside him, and curled up on his side, with his back pressed against his Nakama's side. He heard Zoro sigh behind him.

"I should have trusted Zoro more. Zoro was only protecting the crew." Luffy mumbled, but Zoro had been with him long enough by now (despite it only being a relatively short time) to know what he said.

He looked over at his captain, his child-like, naive captain, and sighed again.

It was almost impossible to stay mad.

"These are different seas than the ones back home. We need to be more careful, not everybody who gives us food or helps us out, is going to be a friend. That might have worked back in the East, but this is the Grand Line." He said softly. "The only people out here that you can trust, is your crew." He couldn't quite stop the hurt from bleeding through to his voice.

Luffy's head bowed towards his knees, which he drew up, closer to his chest. "Zoro got hurt." He mumbled again, making Zoro sigh again before he rolled over slightly and trapped the rubbery pirate under an arm. He already knew that it wasn't a good idea to let Luffy brood like this, not on his own.

"Go to sleep, idiot."

For a moment, Luffy imagined he was back in the treehouse, with his brothers holding him after a nightmare, but this wasn't his Ace or Sabo, this was Zoro.

Who was fast becoming a brother.


	20. Why is it Burning? pt 1

_Talk over the Transponder_

Normal talking

* * *

Luffy stared at the small piece of paper in his hand. Lola had said that the fact it was burning up like this, meant that Ace was in serious trouble, and was weakened somehow.

Despite what he told his crew about not being worried, Ace was strong and had a strong crew to back him up if needed after all, he was very worried.

Ace was all he had left.

Why wouldn't he be worried? His brother was chasing a known Nakama-killer and now his Vivre-card was burning. He debated for a few minutes before sighing as he got up. He didn't have any way of contacting Ace to demand to know that he was ok, but Ace had provided the next best thing.

A way to contact the _Moby Dick_.

He didn't think even Robin knew he had it, she wasn't part of the crew when he got it after all, otherwise she probably would. She knew everything that happened on this ship, after all. Plus, he'd had no reason to contact them before this.

(His crew also didn't know that he had a way to contact his father. He still wasn't sure how he felt about _that_.)

Plopping down in the middle of the men's quarters, he pulled out the Transponder Snail and dialed before waiting impatiently.

" _Hello, you've reached the-_ "

"Why is Ace's Vivre-card burning?" He interrupted whoever was on the other end. They went silent, eyes going wide.

" _I'm sorry? Who are you? What do you mean?_ " They asked in quick succession.

Luffy gritted his teeth in irritation. "Why. Is. My. Older. Brother's. Vivre-card. Burning?" He asked again. If it was possible, the Whitebeard pirates eyes got even wider. All Luffy heard after that, was a whispered, urgent sounding conversation before the annoying and unhelpful voice came back.

 _"We're sending someone to check our own piece of his Vivre-card, and someone is going to get one of our commanders. Or the captain, whichever one they find first._ " The last bit was muttered. It was a good thing Luffy was made of rubber, or his teeth would have shattered from the force he was using to grind them together.

* * *

Marco was having a typical day. Paperwork, yell at the second and fourth divisions for starting a prank war that resulted in three bathrooms needing full repairs, check the budget list to make sure they could afford those supplies for the repairs (they could, easily), supervise a fight between two other crew members, oversee training for the second division, make sure his division didn't need anything, make sure they were still on course... etc, etc.

More than once, while he was yelling at the second and fourth divisions, he had turned around to yell at Ace and Thatch for starting a prank war between their divisions, only to remember. Ace was currently hunting a traitor, and Thatch was... dead. Months later, and he still found himself forgetting that his best friend and brother was no longer with them. He wished that he could have taken off with Ace, but he was the First Mate in a crew of over one thousand. He couldn't afford to just leave.

"Commander Marco!" He heard from behind him. When he turned around, he noticed Jonah running towards him. If he remembered right, he was currently assigned in the communications room as a punishment for 'accidentally' setting a brothers bunk on fire after an argument.

"Yes?" He asked.

"A guy is on the Transponder demanding to know why Ace's Vivre-card is burning. He claimed that Ace was his older brother, so it's probably Strawhat Luffy, now that I think about it." He mused for a moment before shaking himself and continuing. "Dusty from the Second Division is heading to the bounty room to check on Ace's Vivre-card, to verify what the kid is saying." For a moment, Marco froze, then he abruptly burst into his Phoenix form and sped towards the communication room to find out what was going on.

All across the deck, pirates looked up and watched, worried. Marco was clearly in a hurry, just what was going on now? Should they be preparing for a fight? Silently, crewmembers started drifting towards their assigned posts, ready for anything. Whether it be setting or adjusting the massive sails for turning the ship around, or getting the cannons ready. The shipwrights started immediately cataloging the available supplies for possible repairs. The chefs in the fourth rushed to adjust the meal plan to stretch the supplies out longer, preparing for the possibility of being at sea longer than initially planned without a supply stop. Those in charge of the ships armory and such started checking over the weapons and ammunition to make sure they were good to use in a fight. Those that had their preferred, personal weapon (and didn't just use one out of the armory), ran to fetch them before going to their posts. The medical staff rushed to set the Infirmary up for possible wounded.

They didn't know what had Marco worked up, but they were going to be ready for any order he or Whitebeard gave.

Whitebeard watched it all with a worried frown. He hadn't seen Marco this worked up since... He decided to go check it out for himself, rather than wait for Marco to come inform him of what he learned. His thoughts were full of Shanks' warnings about Teach, and his demands that he call Ace back to the ship immediately.

* * *

Luffy looked up when Sanji came into the room. "What's that? Who are you talking to?" He asked, surprised to see his captain on the floor of their room, with a Transponder Snail in his hands. It was capable of long-range, too, by the looks of it. The shell was grey, with white and black swirls, the rarest type out there, it could both intercept and block calls from being intercepted. Much more rare than the Black or White Snails, both of which could do one, but not the other. "And where did we get a Snail like that?"

"Ace gave it to me." Was all Luffy said. That peaked Sanji's curiously even more, so he sat on the edge of his bunk to listen. When Luffy didn't demand he get out and give him privacy, he relaxed and settled in.

" _Tom! Oh, Commander, Pops. The kid was right, Ace's Vivre-card is burning_." Sanji's eyes went wide as he realized who Luffy was talking to. Also, the realization that Luffy was more worried about his older than he had let on.

Luffy huffed. "Of course I'm right, I'm holding the thing in my hand, and it's burning! Why." He demanded again. His thought was that, as Ace's crew, they would probably know something that he clearly didn't.

" _The last time Ace checked in, he told us that he had found Teach. They must have fought, and Ace was injured. Or, they are still fighting."_ Marco suggested, but he didn't sound too convinced. He was eyeing the burning Vivre-card that Dusty, former First Mate of the Spade Pirates, was holding reverently and gently in his hand.

" _No, if that were the case, then it wouldn't have burned down this much."_ Whitebeard denied. " _Get Haruta in here, I want to know what happened."_ He ordered before turning his attention to the Transponder in front of him. " _What is your current location, Strawhat?"_ He asked.

"We just left the..." He scrunched up his face as he tried to remember what it was called. He looked at Sanji for help.

"The Florian Triangle, headed for Sabaody. Honestly, captain, your memory for places and names is just as bad as Zoro's sense of direction." He teased lightly, trying to make his captain feel somewhat better. Luffy merely stuck out his tongue. It was true, though.

If it wasn't personally important to him in some way, then he didn't really care what the place was called, or what the person's name was. Which usually meant he had a hard time remembering it. Or, if it was important, then he would usually find some way of shortening it just to mess with the person, while pretending their real name was hard to say. He loved to mess with people.

Meanwhile, Zoro was notorious for getting lost... when Luffy or their crew wasn't in danger. The swordsman seemed to have some sort of sixth sense for when they were in danger, and the fastest route to getting there in time to help them. (He would later attribute this to a subconscious use of Haki on Zoro's part).

There was a brief chuckle on the Whitebeard's side of the connection before the large captain turned serious again. " _I'm going to send one of our allies in your direction. I am going to ask, though, that if Ace is in trouble, that you let us handle it."_ Whitebeard said,

"Absolutely not. Ace is my brother, if he's in _that_ much trouble, then I'm going to help get him out. We've always worked that way." Luffy instantly denied.

Whitebeard was silent for a while, knowing that he couldn't bring a rookie into his families affairs, but at the same time, he understood the desire to protect one's family. " _We'll figure out what is going on first, brat, then we'll plan."_ He knew that nothing he said or did would get the rookie to stay away from whatever this was.

Marco took the receiver. " _Please, don't do anything until we get some answers. Acting rashly may just make things worse for Ace, wherever he is."_ He implored Luffy, knowing his reputation from both Ace, and the newspapers.

Luffy was silent for a few moments, while he stared at the Vivre-card with worry. "Fine, but be quick. I have a bad feeling."

Sanji leaned forward so he could interject. "The captain's 'feelings' and instincts are never wrong when it comes to family or Nakama. Whatever you plan better involve us, where our captain goes, we go."

" _We'll be in touch."_ Was all that was said before Whitebeard hung up.

* * *

Right when Pops hung up, Haruta came in, already on the Transponder with some of his contacts.

As soon as he hung up, he turned to Whitebeard. "I have my contacts poking around, but so far none of them have heard anything about Ace, beyond that he and Teach fought on Banaro Island... according to them, their fight happened _while_ Strawhat and his crew were tearing apart Enies Lobby. After that, there's nothing. They can't even tell me who won. But there is chatter that Teach was asking around for Strawhats location in the weeks before the fight with Ace. And that he is looking at the vacant Warlord position."

"Luffy has proven to be a huge thorn in the Government's side. Especially after Enies Lobby, they gotta be desperate to bring him in. Turning him in would probably be enough to secure that position. And... if what Ace tells me about the kids father is true..." Dusty interjected. He was one of the few who Ace had trusted his secrets to, before becoming a Whitebeard. To his knowledge, the only people that knew Ace's parentage were himself, Garp, Luffy, Whitebeard, and Ace's foster mother. Who knew how many would know of Luffy's parentage. All it would take was knowing who Garp's son was and putting two and two together to get four.

"Strawhats father?" Marco questioned.

Dusty sighed, and after a moment spoke. "Think about the boys last name, and everyone else you know of that shares that same name."

"Monkey D., wasn't it?" Haruta asked. Immediately, Whitebeard's and Marco's eyes widened. Haruta's own eyes widened in shock a few moments later after he put the pieces together. "Well, that would certainly be enough to secure a Warlord position. That's assuming that Teach managed to connect the same dots." Dusty shrugged.

"Ok, lets assume, right now, that Teach won the fight. We know Ace is still alive, but severely injured." Marco said, pointing to the burning Vivre-card that Dusty was holding. "He's after the Warlord position, and it seems that he's given up on going after Strawhat. The most logical step would be to turn Ace in, he's the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, who had an impressive bounty on his own even before joining us and being promoted to Commander."

"Why are we just assuming that the Traitor won? Captain's strong, he's a good fighter." Dusty said, offended on his old captain's behalf.

"Because if Ace won, his Vivre-card would not be in this state, and he would have called by now to check in and let us know." Haruta answered with a grimace.

"If Ace were in Marine custody, we would have heard about it by now." Whitebeard said, frowning.

"Unless they were planning something stupid and want to keep it quiet for now to prepare for our response to whatever they are up to. Because we all know exactly what would happen if they were to announce he was captured and/or about to be executed." Dusty claimed, shaking his head. "Going to war with us would require some preparation on their part. They will want to put off announcing anything until they are sure they have the tactical advantage to come out on top, however we respond."

"Haruta, check back with your contacts, ask about any strange Marine activity."

"Strange how?"

"Like if they are suddenly gathering... if strong, high ranking fighters are suddenly being recalled to Marineford or somewhere else of significance. Unusual ship movements... That could tell us more." Marco said, already knowing what his father was thinking, as always.

"Gotcha." Haruta said, going over to his corner, where he had Snails everywhere.

"In the meantime, we should prepare for every possibility." Whitebeard was silent for a while. "Head underwater. Let's stay out of the Marines sight for a while." He ordered, Marco and Dusty nodded before going outside to relay the captains orders. Since everyone else was already at their posts, ready for anything, it didn't take as long as usual to activate the permanent coating and slip under the waves. While they did that, Whitebeard stayed in the communications room to see that the Whitebeards allies were contacted and orders were relayed. Also, he needed to figure out whoever was closest to Strawhats location and could go meet up with him.

* * *

Luffy set down the Snail and turned to Sanji, who sat up straight and waited for orders from the captain.

His captain, who was wearing a serious look on his face, a look that was rarely seen. It was a look that commanded your full attention and immediate obedience. "Gather everyone in the kitchen."

"Ay, captain." Sanji said, blowing out smoke as he went to do as he was told.

When Luffy finally joined his crew, they looked concerned, worried, scared, and determined all at once. Sanji had clearly told them enough about what happened.

Robin almost gaped when she saw the snail in his hand. Where did he get something like that? They were so rare...

Luffy had already decided that he would heed the Whitebeard's advice and at least wait for more information, but he wasn't putting this snail down until he got it.

However, his crew would start plans and preparations, anyway.

He didn't want his crew part of the upcoming fight, though (he'd never had a gut feeling this bad before. Something awful was coming, something none of them had ever faced before.)

He didn't know what he would do if he lost any of his crew, on top of whatever was going on with his brother. He also didn't _want_ to know.

He couldn't decide if he was going to order them to stay away, or give them the choice. Either way, he could probably arrange something with Whitebeard for their protection, on or off the coming battlefield.

"Keep sailing towards the next island." He said, looking at Nami.

"Sabaody." Sanji muttered, interrupting.

Luffy continued as if he said nothing. "Ace's crew said they'll send an allied ship towards us. They can either catch up, or meet us there." He turned to Robin. "Start reading everything you have on Marine bases and protocol, start making plans to free Ace. I don't know if it _is_ the Marines who have him, but be prepared." He admitted.

He turned to the rest of the crew. "Start making supply lists and over-stock once we reach the next island. ("Sabaody." Sanji muttered again.) We don't know what we're sailing towards, we need to be prepared to be at sea longer than planned."

His crew looked at each other alarmed and unsettled. His serious attitude was setting them all on edge.

Finally, he sighed. He would give them a choice. "If you want to stay behind, then we will find you somewhere to lay low on the island, and come back for you once we have Ace. I won't make you come with us." Whatever could hurt Ace enough that his Vivre-card burned, and continued to burn, was powerful.

He could never beat Ace, so an enemy that _could_ , he could freely admit to being a little scared. Mostly, though, of losing his Nakama. His loved ones.

"Whoa, we're not going anywhere." Nami said, standing up and slamming her hands down on the table, angry. She was terrified, though. But she knew, that they were strongest together. And if they were going to have the Whitebeard's with them... even better.

The others followed her protest, creating so much noise that Luffy couldn't hear words, but he got the gist of what they were saying. They were refusing to stay behind.

Finally, Zoro whistled. Loudly. The whole time the crew had been protesting, he had stared at Luffy. Once the crew had quieted down, he spoke. "You know we will follow you." He said, honestly insulted that Luffy would even _suggest_ leaving one of them behind for something like this.

Whatever _this_ was going to end up being.

When Luffy didn't say anything (his eyes looked suspiciously watery and he swallowed several times), he continued. "You've always been there for us, now its our turn to be there for you. I know, you want to protect us from whatever is strong enough to take Fire-fist out, but we want to protect you, too."

Everyone else nodded in agreement (Usopp, Nami, and Chopper still looked terrified), watching their friend-brother-captain in worry and fear. If he was even giving the option, then just what was he expecting them to sail into?

"Captain." Robin said softly, seeing the fear in his eyes that he was trying to hide. "We'll get Ace out, and we'll all party together once it is over." She said calmly.

Zoro shot her a grateful look when his captain visibly relaxed at her reassurance. "Right." He nodded once, decisively. "Right, Usopp, make your supply list, but I want you up top, keeping watch." He instructed, before he left and went to his special seat on the figure head, to think.

Zoro sighed. "You heard him. Make sure your weapons will work, make sure you have enough ammunition for a long, prolonged battle." He added, looking at Nami, Usopp, and Franky. They were the only ones, besides him, who used actual weapons. Well, he supposed Brook kind of did, too. Swords, however, did not jam up and stop working at bad times.

"Got it." They all said.

"Alright, lets go get this ship and ourselves ready for anything." He said, everyone nodded and went to do their tasks. Zoro and Sanji were the only ones left in the kitchen. "How bad?" Zoro asked. Sanji was the one to find him in the middle of his conversation with Whitebeard, after all.

Sanji sighed. "He barely resisted smashing the snail when they told him not to act rash." He informed Zoro, for once not adding anything to provoke him. With that, he left to check on food stores. They should be good, he'd made sure to stock up before leaving Thriller Bark, but he was going to check them again.

Zoro sighed. His captain was so worried, he was barely holding it together. He knew he wasn't just worried, he was scared. Zoro could guess what he was scared of, too.

Scared of losing his brother. Scared of losing his Nakama. He knew that his captain wasn't worried about anything happening to himself.

He was terrified of something happening to everybody else.

Something he couldn't protect them from.


	21. Sabo- Memories

Sabo walked slowly towards the large figure standing at the balcony. He was facing East, as he always was for some strange reason.

"Boss!" He called. He then waited, patiently, for the man who saved him and gave him a purpose, to turn his head and acknowledge him. "I have the latest wanted posters if you wanted to see them. There's nothing really different, except..." He paused for a moment and pulled one out of the stack. He was about to read it out, when Dragon stretched out his hand to take it.

"30 million is a lot, especially for a first bounty from the East Blue." Sabo merely said while letting his Boss read it. To be honest, he thought the name and grinning face were familiar, but whenever he tried to remember where from, all he got was a headache. The same thing happened whenever he saw Fire-Fist Ace's posters, too, so he didn't really dwell on it too much.

Well, aside from the thought that he probably knew them from his time living on Dawn Island. Seeing as he had no wish or reason to want anything to do with that island, let along its inhabitants...

He _was_ curious, but not _that_ curious.

What he _was,_ was shocked to see the soft smile on his Bosses stoic face when he looked at the rookie pirates picture.

"Already stirring up trouble, huh?" Dragon muttered, almost too soft for Sabo to hear. "Sabo," He suddenly said, making Sabo jump.

"Yes, Boss?" He asked, resolving not to think too much about his memory issues or his bosses behavior.

"Get the ship ready. We're sailing for Louge Town." He ordered, then turned back towards the East, still looking at the poster.

"Er- yes, sir." Sabo said hesitantly. Then he turned and left, forgetting his resolve and wondering what was going on and if it was something he should bring to the other commanders attention.

He resolved again to keep an eye on his Boss, if he saw something truly concerning, then he would inform the others.

* * *

Sabo stood on a rooftop, watching the town below them, specifically the town square, where the execution platform stood.

Emphasis on _stood_.

He knew the strawhatted pirate walked away fine, not even a scratch (and how _that_ one happened...), no... what concerned him was whether or not his _Boss_ knew if the kid would walk away or not before blasting him. Or if the Boss even cared.

Sure, the Army didn't exactly like pirates, although they did have a few pirates working with them as informants and 'safe ships'. Even the Whitebeards and Red-haired pirates occasionally opened their ships to a Revolutionary agent in need of laying low for a few days.

But the way the Boss just blasted this pirate...

And there was something about the rookies declaration. Something about the way he loudly and proudly proclaimed that he was going to be the King of the Pirates, and the way he grinned and laughed about it afterwards.

He knew this kid was familiar in a way that meant he knew him before, back on Dawn, but before he wasn't curious enough to pursue the matter.

Now, pursuing the matter had a sense of urgency to it. Almost like it was life or death that he remember where he knew these two from. Fire-Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates, and Strawhat Luffy, Captain of the Strawhat Pirates.

He had to remember. He _had_ to.

These two were important somehow, he needed to know where from.

* * *

He was waiting on the ship, anchored just out of sight from the island, but still close enough for small boats to go back and forth to the island without problems.

The Boss had sent them on ahead, while he finished up some business. Nobody had any idea what kind of business that could be.

Or why he conjured up this storm.

(Although somebody had reported seeing three of the Strawhat pirates being blown away from danger by the storm, and to the safety of the docks where they made their way to their ship from there. He showed quite an interest in this pirate crew).

"Sabo?" He started and turned to see Koala. "Are you alright? You've been quieter than usual lately."

He was silent for a few moments before he answered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking... I think it's time I went back to Dawn." He said, turning back to the ocean, hiding his troubled and pensive expression.

She gasped quietly. She was one of the few who knew where the scarred blonde came from, and how he came to be with the Revolutionary Army. She also knew his interest in avoiding the Goa Kingdom like it was covered in Amber Lead.

"What brought this on?" She asked.

"Ever since I saw the wanted poster for Fire-Fist Ace, I felt like I knew him from somewhere. Then I read that he was from Dawn Island in the East Blue, so I ignored it. Then, I saw Strawhat Luffy's wanted poster the other day. I got the same feeling, like I should know him. Then today on the execution platform..." He frowned and shook his head. "I need to know who those two were to me." He finished.

"Alright then. We'll start at Fooshia Village." Sabo and Koala jumped and spun around in surprise, their hands going to their weapons.

"Boss! Don't do that!" Koala exclaimed, clutching a hard to her chest dramatically. He simply raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking why he was able to sneak up on them. They were usually much more observant and attentive than that.

"Why Fooshia?" Sabo finally asked after a moment to calm down.

"I grew up there, as did Luffy. If anyone will know you in connection to him, it will be Makino." Dragon said after a moment, and then watched Sabo carefully.

Sabo frowned, that name sounded familiar... "Makino..." He muttered, testing the name out. In his head, an image of a kind young woman with green hair and a constant smile flashed before it was gone. Dragon had seen the brief flash of recognition in his eyes though, and nodded.

Makino was a friend of his growing up, and occasionally she'd been able to contact him with a brief update on his son over the years. On one of those occasions, she'd made mention of Luffy meeting a couple of boys while living with the bandits, although she'd never given any names.

He turned and headed back to the Navigators to give the order, leaving his Second in Command and his field partner alone by the rail.

Since Fooshia happened to be frequented by his father, he also ordered the flag and any other identifying marks to be removed or covered up. No need to tempt fate, after all.

* * *

Sabo stood by the rail, watching the island in front of them come closer. He didn't move until they docked, then he pulled his hood down lower on his face and joined the Boss by the plank to disembark.

He'd already had to fight with Koala about staying on the ship and letting him have space, but he wasn't even going to try and argue with the Boss about it. That, and, the Boss grew up here. He knew the people and the place, Sabo had no idea where to go or who to talk to. And if he did know the area, it wasn't like he remembered.

"No hood." Dragon said when he joined him, knocking the green hood of the Revolutionary Army off his head before jamming his hat back on his head. Sabo blinked in surprise, but didn't say anything. He supposed that if anybody was going to recognize him, they needed to see his face.

Stepping foot on the docks, they were greeted by a short old man with a scowl, which Dragon only seemed amused about.

"Dragon." The old man greeted curtly, it only served to make Dragon even more amused.

He allowed a small smirk to curl at his lips. "Mayor. It's been a while, hasn't it?" And then he waited for the rant he knew was probably coming.

"Humph. You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here. After all the trouble you cause out there! Three criminals, our village is ruined!" The old mayor scolded.

"Three?" Dragon asked, frowning slightly. By his count, it should only be him and Luffy.

(Although he supposed that Fire-Fist Ace did grow up on the island as well. But from what he'd heard, it didn't sound like the boy ever visited this side of the island.)

"Yes, three! You and Luffy, plus that boy, Ace! You know him and Luffy declared themselves to be sworn brothers? Now they're both out causing nothing but trouble!"

"Really?" Dragon asked, interested. He was going to have to pay more attention to Fire-Fist Ace in future.

"Yes, Ace and that other boy, Sabo." He narrowed his eyes at Sabo. "Come to think of it, you look an awful lot like him, down to the clothes. All you're missing is a missing tooth, and that scar..." He trailed off.

Sabo was in shock. Sworn brothers? What?

Dragon raised an eyebrow. "This _is_ Sabo. I rescued him after the fire in Grey Terminal, and after his boat was blown out of the water." He explained shortly.

Woop-Slap sucked in a breath. "Oh, my. We thought him dead..." His eyes never left Sabo's face. "Dadan told us that Ace and Luffy both struggled with the loss of their brother... they had to chain Ace to a tree to keep him from killing the Nobles and Luffy disappeared for a week until they finally released Ace and he dragged Luffy back from the cliff where those boys liked to go to sit and watch the ocean." He explained to Dragon.

Sabo heard everything, as if he was under water, he was staring towards the forest, but he wasn't seeing any of it. The mayor's words were bouncing in his head.

Dragon watched him, "Dadan? Makino told me that Garp took Luffy to live with her after Shanks' visit."

The mayor nodded. "Why that crazy old man of yours thought bandits would be able to raise Marines is beyond me." He grumbled for a moment. Then he turned and started making his way towards the bar. "Makino would want to see him. She was closer to the boys then I was, I couldn't make the trip up the mountain nearly as often as she could." He said.

Dragon had to pull Sabo along, as unresponsive as he was.

"Hello, how can I... Dragon!" Makino exclaimed once she noticed who came into her bar. She rushed and gave him a warm hug. "It's been a while, you haven't visited in years." She pouted at her childhood friend lightly.

He just chuckled warmly (shocking Sabo out of his stupor), "You know me, Makino. Anything to stay away from my old man." He said, letting her go. She just laughed.

"And it has nothing to do with the trouble you've been causing in the world?" She teased lightly, masking the slight hurt at the long separation from her oldest friend. They couldn't even call or write to each other all that often for fear of the Marines intercepting the calls or letters and tracing them back to her and this island. She wouldn't be the only one in trouble, the Marines would label the entire village as traitors and Revolutionaries without thought or care about the innocents that they would be hurting, they wouldn't even hesitate to execute the children.

"Well, that too." Dragon replied. He was risking a lot by being here, they couldn't stay long.

She shook her head, this family. Always causing trouble, even Garp caused his fair share of trouble, even if the Marines kept it quiet so their image wasn't damaged. That was, if they even knew about the damage he caused to the World Nobles precious slave markets, and that wasn't all, either. Garp had told her about the numerous corrupt officers he had brought to justice, (real justice, not that farce that the Marines as a whole promoted) and how much money that they had collected. Money that the Marines had attempted to collect as 'spoils', until he gave it back to the citizens it had been stolen from. If that wasn't possible, he found the nearest struggling island and gave it to those inhabitants. But the most trouble that caused was when it made that corrupt officer, public knowledge and made no attempt to keep it quiet.

"Oh," She exclaimed softly when she spotted Sabo. "I'm being rude, I'm Makino, you must be one of this idiots subordinates." She said, holding out her hand for him to shake it. Although she gave him the same look that he got from the Mayor. Dragon shot her an annoyed, but fond look when she called him an idiot.

Dragon cleared his throat before Sabo could pull himself together long enough to answer. "This is my second in command, Sabo."

"Sabo?" She asked, looking slightly lost with that information.

"His boat was shot down, ten years ago by the World Nobles. I rescued him, and now that Luffy has set sail, we are trying to recover some of his memory." He hoped this would be the last time he had to explain this.

She sucked in a breath, her eyes never leaving Sabo. "You're sure that he's _our_ Sabo, that he's Luffy and Ace's Sabo?" She asked.

"I met him in High Town before his boat was shot, he was the one to warn us that the Nobles were setting the Grey Terminal on fire, with everybody still inside." Dragon said, letting her know that this was definitely her Sabo. After all, how many Sabo's did she know that also had a Noble background, who grew up in High Town before escaping to the Terminal? How many Sabo's did she know that was born a Noble, and yet didn't see those born 'beneath' him, to be little more than animals?

"Oh, my." She breathed, holding her hands over her mouth in shock while her eyes watered. Reaching out, she gently placed her hands on his shoulder's, after searching his face for a moment, she let out a sob and pulled him in for a hug.

He let her, although his eyes were wide, his gaze distant. Everything about her was familiar, although he was pretty sure he never set foot in this bar until now.

After a few moments, she released him and stood there, studying his face with her hands on his shoulders before she squeezed his shoulders and went over to the bar, where she pulled out bottles of her finest along with cups.

"Makino, what are you doing?" Dragon asked, a little confused.

"One of our boys just came home safe, what do you think I'm doing? Of course, we will need to let Dadan and them know as well, she may act otherwise and deny it, but she really cares for you boys." She glanced at Sabo again with a soft smile. "Sabo's 'death' really hit us all hard. Dadan was down here crying for days when Ace and Luffy weren't around."

Sabo blinked and frowned at the name and information.

She just smiled again before passing out the drinks. "Let's see, the treehouse would be a good spot to go, and your boys cliff. I don't know if the Trash Heap you boys liked to go to, or High Town would be a good idea, the Trash Heap you're used to burned, and High Town..." A dark look crossed her face. "No. Just, no." Dragon huffed in agreement.

"The only memory he had when he woke up was that he could never come back to Dawn. I'm assuming because of something his parents did." Dragon said, but he didn't know full details. He knew what Sabo did, and considering Sabo had amnesia...

"Oh!" For a moment, Makino looked troubled, before she shook it off. "Well, I'm sure once you meet up with Ace or Luffy, they could tell you." She muttered. She didn't know the full story herself, merely that threats were made and Sabo ended up back in High Town with his biological parents.

They kept talking for a while, and drinking. Makino told them everything she knew, and a few of the details and stories sounded familiar to Sabo, he just didn't remember them. The more he heard, though, the more he wanted to remember more than anything else.

* * *

On the walk up the mountain (to visit the bandits), Sabo eventually took the lead as the paths became increasingly familiar. At one point, he took them off a trail, and down a path only he seemed aware of.

Problem was, it was over giant rock piles, overgrown tree roots, and even over a river while using crocodile heads as stepping stones. (One unlucky crocodile ended up being dragged along behind them as lunch when it tried to 'protest' the treatment.)

Needless to say, Makino quickly ended up riding along on Dragons back during the trip.

"The boys did this when were _younger_?!" He heard her muttering. In horror, or awe, he wasn't sure. He was going to play it safe, and guess both.

"Well, this certainly explains a few things." He said in reply. Going over rough terrain had never been a problem for Sabo... in fact, the rougher the better, as far as the blonde was concerned. He seemed to thrive in environments like this. Also, he was very good at picking out 'paths' where pursuers would have a difficult, if not impossible, time following.

He had been called a mountain goat on more than one occasion by Koala, and the rest of the men agreed with her after they found out what a mountain goat _was._

Finally, they arrived. Or at least, Dragon thought they did. He had been expecting to go to a bandits hide-out. Instead, Sabo lead them to a large tree at the very top of the mountain. When he looked up, his eyebrows shot to his hairline when he saw the modest-sized treehouse built around the middle of the trunk. If he squinted, he could just make out a makeshift crows nest at the very top of the tree, and the sight of a piece of fabric flying at the top.

Looking down, he found Sabo just standing there, looking up at it, his face was blank. When he moved to get his attention, Makino stopped him. "This was their treehouse. They built it, from what Ace told me, they were out getting wood to make repairs after a nasty storm when Sabo's father came to get him back."

He nodded his understanding, and stood back to let Sabo investigate on his own. Sabo quickly climbed up the tree, leaving Makino and Dragon to stand at the bottom of the tree, with nothing to do but talk, and catch up.

* * *

When Sabo first stepped into the forest, it looked familiar, but not enough that he could safely navigate it. Once they kept going though, it was like a switch flipped, and he knew the forest like the back of his hand, he knew everything about it.

It was a knowledge that was the product of hours, upon hours of playing, exploring, and hunting in these trees.

He veered off the path, glancing down at it with disdain. He didn't need a path, why was he walking on it? Dimly, he knew that Makino would have a hard time going off the path, but he knew that the Boss would take care of her.

Besides, everyone on this mountain knew bandits watched every inch of the paths. (The only reason Makino was ever safe was because Dadan spread the word that the barkeep was under her protection. Garp was safe because everyone recognized him). In this forest, using the path meant you lived in a town and didn't know the terrain, nor were you strong and fast enough to navigate through the trees. It meant you were an easy target, easy prey for the numerous bandits that roamed these mountains and called them 'home'.

Once they reached the tree, the one that he knew, the one that he called 'home', he looked up and drank in the sight of the treehouse. He still couldn't remember Ace and Luffy, but he knew this treehouse. Just like he knew this forest and everything about it. Distantly, he heard Dragon and Makino behind him, but he didn't pay them any attention as he climbed up.

He slowly walked through the treehouse, taking everything in. He paused when he saw the sake cups hanging in a net on the wall, and in his head he heard, 'Didn't you know, if we exchange sake, we become brothers'? He smiled slightly at the memory, and reached out to take the net, once he found his 'brothers', they were going to have to celebrate, right? After looking around for a bit longer, he decided to climb higher, he wanted to see the island, he knew that this was the tallest tree on the island, and that you could see everything from the top of it.

At the top, he took a deep breath, and drank in the sight of his childhood, spread out in front of him. The longer he stared out, the more he remembered. He looked towards the crocodile river, and he remembered all the times Luffy fell in that river, only to be eaten. He laughed softly, all the times he and Ace had to rescue the small, rubber boy.

After a while of staring out at his playground, he turned around and ran his fingers along the flag, waving in the breeze. The flag that he and Ace had painstakingly sewn together, while also trying to keep Luffy away from the project. He kept trying to help, only to get himself tangled up in the thread. Once, he even managed to sew himself to the front of the flag.

When he finally climbed down, he was unsurprised to see Dadan and her bandits standing around the clearing. One of them would have been watching the path they were on, and reported to Dadan about seeing Makino with two strange men. Dadan was always a little protective of the smaller woman...

Dogra saw him and gaped. "But that's... Wha- I mean..." He stammered. "But, the boat... I saw..." He saw the boat blow up! Dadan was clearly attempting to hide her tears.

"My boat did blow up. I survived the explosion, and Dragon pulled me out of the water. I didn't remember anything, though. I still don't really remember a whole lot." Sabo said, looking at Dadan. There was something familiar about her... and the way she was trying to pretend that seeing him didn't affect her at all, despite the huge, fat tears rolling down her face.

"You're late, Luffy left a few weeks ago. He'll be sad when he realizes that you missed each other." Dadan said after a moment of getting her emotions under control.

Makino snorted. "Not as... pleased as he will be when he realizes his brother is alive." She muttered, and Dadan's bandits all laughed, or snorted in amusement. Oh, yes. Luffy would be very, very pleased. After his emotional outburst, of course.

They predicted that many, many tears would be involved.

"Do you have everything you wanted from your boys house?" Magra asked.

Sabo turned to look back up at the treehouse. "Yes, I think so. I'm surprised that its still in such good condition though." He frowned. "The last I remember seeing it, there were boards and stuff missing from the storm." He looked at Dadan in question.

"The night of the storm was the last night you stayed here. You were forced to go back to High Town the next day by your birth father." Dadan's distaste for the man was... noticeable. "Ace and Luffy kept it in good repair over the years, even if they didn't stay here anymore." Sabo frowned.

"It made a good spot to hide or store loot, though. Or other supplies." A random bandit threw out.

Dadan hummed in agreement. "Come on, some of the boys caught a few boars for lunch, a few boys were left to cook them up while we came to check you two out." She said, turning around to walk back to the hide-out.

Sabo hid his grin about being right, her and her men only came out here to make sure Makino was alright.

"Maybe some stories about your boys childhood will jog some more of those memories loose." Dadan said, turning around to lead the way back. Sabo hid a grin when he realized that none of the bandits took the faint path towards the hut, either.


	22. Ace- Prepared

"Hey, Ace, read this. This is interesting..." Sabo muttered, looking over at his seven year old friend and holding out the book that he'd liberated from the Trash Heap.

"Why? What's in it?" Ace asked, annoyed. He didn't want to have to read it, that would mean admitting that he _couldn't_ read.

"It's about navigation. Every pirate should know at least the basics, especially the captain." Sabo said, thrusting the book under Ace's nose and pointing at what he wanted to show him.

Crap.

How was he going to get out of it now? He couldn't refuse because of it being boring, because as Sabo said, it was important to know. Now he just had to figure out how to get Sabo to tell him without admitting that he couldn't read it.

Gingerly, he took the book and quickly pretended to read where Sabo was pointing. "That's interesting, all right." He said, handing it back and hoping the other boy would either drop it and go back to reading, or that he would start explaining it in some way anyway.

"That's it? What did you think?" Sabo asked, not giving Ace what he was needing.

"It was interesting." He said again.

"Hold on, you _can_ read, right?" Sabo asked after a moment of watching Ace. He scowled defensively.

"I can read!" He protested.

"Then what did you think?" Sabo pressed, knowing that Ace was lying and any second now, he was going to turn defensive and go on a small rant about 'what did it even matter', and how it was 'such a useless skill'.

He decided he didn't want to listen to the rant. "It's not that big of a deal." He said with a shrug. "It's not like those bandits you live with are going to sit you down and teach you something like that." He reasoned. If the bandits themselves even knew how to read...

He wanted for a moment to let Ace calm down. "But you know, it is something you should know. As a captain, you will need to be able to read. You'll have to read supply lists, the maps, bounty posters so you know who the competition is, the newspapers so you know areas to avoid. Among other things." He said. "I'll teach you." He suddenly decided.

Unfortunately, the only books he had were medical, navigational, and history books he'd managed to either bring with him or scrounge from the Trash Heap. He had them all in a big trunk he scrounged up and covered in a mostly-intact tarp he stole off somebodies shelter.

He had a couple of fictional books he enjoyed as well, but most of what he had were research or educational materials. Not ideal for teaching somebody to read out of.

Well, he supposed that Ace would need to learn some navigation and a little medical practice wouldn't hurt, so it would be killing two birds with one stone.

Ace sputtered. "What?" He demanded. "I don't need you to teach me!" He denied.

"You need to learn somehow."

Ace glared at him for a moment, before looking away.

Sabo counted it as a win and shuffled closer, flipping the book in his hands back to the beginning. Good thing this one was a beginner text for navigation.

"Ok, we'll run through more basic stuff later, once I get ahold of some paper and pencils." He said dismissively. And with that, the lessons started.

The first few weeks were met with much, much frustration from Ace, and Sabo even went so far as to spend a few of their hard-stolen Belli on some materials to help teach him to write as well. He would have just stolen them, but the shop-keeper didn't give him the chance.

Despite all the frustration, after those few weeks, Ace found himself able to read most of a report Dadan received from one of her High Town contacts about the Kingdoms guard patrols. Lessons were approached much more eagerly after that.

* * *

Ace looked around the treehouse that he and Luffy had built, along with Sabo. He was glad now, that he'd listened when Sabo made him help cart his entire book collection all the way up the mountain from Sabo's old campsite.

He was even more glad that he then listened when Sabo convinced him to move their treasure from the new hiding spot they found after Porchemy caught Luffy that day. They had left bags of rocks behind, to act as decoys in case they ever had a reason to give the location up to somebody.

If he hadn't listened, Sabo's precious books would have been destroyed in the fire, and the treasure would have been stolen, leaving him and Luffy to start all over again, from scratch. If they were going to be able to get decent ships when they set out, they were going to need a decent amount of money. They may need to get a new ship somewhere along the way in their journey's, but they couldn't set out to fulfill their and Sabo's dreams with a floating wreck, now could they?

He'd already been by the old hiding place, and Bluejam (or at least somebody from his crew, since it was possible Bluejam himself died in the Fire) had made no attempt to hide the fact he had been there. Where the pirate or his crew were now, he had no idea. Nor did he really care, not so long as he never laid eyes on the disgrace ever again.

He would mention his concerns to Dadan, though, just in case. Her men needed to be prepared to come across the pirates in the forests.

Now, he needed to decide what to do with Sabo's things. He couldn't just leave the books here, if that tarp was blown away, they would be ruined. He didn't want all of them, though. Some of them weren't interesting or useful to him, maybe Makino would be interested in them.

The treasure, too, was vulnerable here since Ace and Luffy had agreed (without really saying anything) that they weren't going to come back here to live. They weren't going to be here to keep an eye on it, or discourage others from checking the treehouse out or using it as a shelter. When they lived there, their reputation was enough to keep people out when the boys weren't home.

At the moment, he and Luffy had no intention of ever coming back here. The memories...

"Here you are." He jumped at the voice behind and whirled around, hand going to his pipe. He only relaxed marginally when he saw who it was.

"Dadan! Were you following me?" He asked suspiciously, and a little incredulous.

"Yup." She said, unashamed. "High Town guards shouldn't be coming this far up the mountain, but that pirate is still around somewhere." She shrugged. She made it sound like it wasn't a big deal for her, although Ace knew how she could be. The fact she was sounding so casual about it, meant it was a very big deal to her.

Ace stared at her for a moment before he snorted and turned away to start packing the books up. He might as well put her being here to good use.

"Are they all Sabo's?" She asked after a moment. Ace paused for a moment before he nodded. "What are you going to do with them?"

"Keep most of them. The ones that are about medicine and navigation, anyway. If I'm going to be a good captain, I need to know at least some of that stuff." He would have to sort through them later for which ones he was going to keep, and which ones he was going to give to Makino.

"I didn't know you'd learned to read." Dadan said with a frown. And she tried to know what was going on in her boys lives. As much as she tried to deny it, she was his foster mother, and she did care for him as her son. Anybody who tried to point it out, though, had better duck before they met her axe.

"Sabo taught me." Sabo taught him a lot, and not all of it was about reading and writing.

"You won't be able to go back to robbing Nobles for a while. The guards will be on high alert after the fire." She said, changing the subject after a few moments of silence.

"Nope. I don't think Luffy or I would want to go anywhere near there for a while, anyway. Not after what happened..." Ace bit his lip. He was the one who set the explosives, the fire was his fault. He was the one who set it. "We'll train some more, and I'll try to get Luffy to sit still long enough to get some of this information in his head." He held up the last book and grimaced just thinking about it.

She snorted. "Gook luck." Without a word, she picked up the trunk and heaved it over her shoulder before carefully going back down the ladder with it, where she handed it off to two of her men while Dogra went up to see if Ace needed help with anything else.

He just blinked in surprise, but started bagging up their treasure. It was released into the bandits care with a warning glare and a hissed statement that Ace knew exactly what was there and how much.

Thank goodness Sabo had been so meticulous about keeping record of what/how much they had.

Ace himself followed behind after gathering up a few clothes and blankets. He wasn't sure what they still had at the bandits hut, they hadn't stayed there in a while.

At the base of the tree, he stopped and looked back up at the house, at the flag still flying cheerfully at the top.

He would make Sabo proud.

* * *

Ace turned and waved fondly at his baby brother after jumping down to his boat.

He'd had to spend a little more of his half of their (rather substantial by now) pirate fund to buy a boat big enough to fit the trunk full of books and the safe for his money (stolen, of course, and part of a set. Luffy had the other one, they were living with _bandits_ after all). They were rather heavy, so it needed to be big enough not to sink under the weight, and of course, so he had room to move around.

After Sabo's death, Luffy and his relationship suffered greatly, and threatened to fall apart completely (on his end at least, he was pretty sure Luffy would have suffered through all the abuse he put him through just in the interest of not being alone), to the point where Luffy had almost been killed by a bear when an impatient and annoyed Ace refused to help him fight it off.

The shock that caused, knocked some sense into Ace, and he changed his attitude towards his little brother almost overnight. He couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to Luffy, seeing him injured like that... No, he was never going to let it happen again. Not if he could help it.

With Luffy, he became increasingly patient, caring, and he enjoyed indulging the other boys whims sometimes, no matter how ridiculous, or how much trouble they got into afterward. With others, he remained short and angry, unless they happened to be somebody he (grudgingly in some cases) cared for or liked.

Ace had put his newfound patience in his little brother to practice and managed to get at least some basic knowledge about navigation and medicine in the boys rubber brain.

He even managed to get some knowledge about ship building, repair, and maintenance in there. Once he made it clear how important it was for the captain to know stuff like that, Luffy was very attentive and worked hard to learn what his brother was trying to teach. He wouldn't say they were experts in those fields, not by a long shot, but they knew enough to make do when the experts weren't around.

Over the years, Garp had come and gone as usual, but they didn't dread his visits like they used to. During his visit after Sabo died, Ace had demanded to know just who the Celestial Dragons were and why they were so important. The resulting blow-up made it very clear to Garp that his remaining grandsons would _not_ be joining the organization that bent and scraped to the very person that took their brother from them. After that, Ace demanded training.

 _Real_ training, not the beatings and falls into ravines and such that he passed off as training.

Ace didn't like how helpless they were when fighting Bluejam, they'd been doing pretty good until the gun had been pulled out and the High Town guards arrived with Sabo's birth father. But if he'd been able to finish the fight before the gun was ever pulled, Sabo would never have been taken from them. He hadn't been strong enough to protect his brothers.

So, he made sure that he and Luffy got some real training, so that they were _both_ stronger, he wasn't going to be around anymore to protect Luffy, after all.

 _"Alright, tell me what happened during the fight." Garp ordered after he finally seemed to give up on the idea of his grandsons ever being Marines. He listened attentively while Ace told the story, with Luffy occasionally adding his input._

 _Garp was shocked when Ace described the strange feeling he got, right before most of the pirates all fainted, foaming at the mouths._

 _Ace was a Conqueror._

 _Why was he not surprised?_

 _He made his decision. If his grandsons weren't going to be Marines, then he was going to help make their pirating careers as safe as possible while making them as strong as he possibly could. He would teach Ace everything he could about Haki, and he would trust Ace to teach Luffy._

 _Even he knew that seven was too young to learn something like Haki. Truthfully, he felt that ten was too young, but for right now he could just work on teaching the knowledge, it would take a few years of rigorous training to build his body and mental strength to the point where using the advanced techniques wouldn't put too much strain on the boy._

 _He didn't have to learn Haki right away, he had a few years to build the boy up to it. When he wasn't here, Ace could teach Luffy once the boy was older._

 _(That, and, when he wasn't working with the boys on fighting technique and various exercises to build themselves up to the 'secret' Marine techniques and Haki, he was working with Luffy on his aim. How on earth was it possible for the boy to hit himself in the face so much more often than he even came close to hitting the actual target?)_

 _That being said, he also taught both boys how to use a dagger, even gifting them with one that he had commissioned just for them. He left a spot on it for them to get their symbols engraved, as much as he hated that it would be any symbol other than the Marine symbol._

 _In order to properly train the boys, he managed to wrangle a temporary assignment to the East Blue, so that he was closer to Dawn and could visit more often than once or twice a year. The assignment was nothing big, just training new recruits and oversight._

 _Less then two years after receiving the assignment, he started receiving reports about a pirate crew made up of fishmen setting up base in the East, but every effort to investigate yielded nothing. It got to the point where he began to suspect Marine involvement, because every time he sent men to the islands affected by the reported pirates presence, it was to find every place the pirates might be staying at, appear to be long abandoned, except for the subtle signs that there had been inhabitants recently._

 _It was almost like somebody was tipping them off... whoever it was, they were good at staying hidden._

 _On several occasions, he declared that the boys needed a break and took them to the new sea restaurant, Baratie, that had been opened recently. He'd been interested (thrilled and relieved) to find Zeff alive, and now running a restaurant. His old 'sparring partner' (one of his best friends) had taken his crew and left the New World to give them a break, a few weeks of guaranteed calm waters, before going back in. Much like Shanks had done for that year he spent in Fooshia._

 _(Although he was pretty sure Shanks hadn't originally meant to stay for so long._ _Luffy probably had something to do with the Yonko being away from the New World for so long.)_

 _Even the Whitebeard's were known for occasionally leaving the New World for a few weeks, although it was rare that they left Paradise. But, even in Paradise, they usually stuck around areas where it was known for the calmer weather._

 _Zeff's protege, Vinsmoke Sanji (he'd looked into the boys history for the chef, the old pirate had wanted to know where he was from and if he had anybody looking for him), had already been claimed by Luffy to be the boys chef, and Zeff had promised (privately) that the boy would be ready by the time Luffy set sail._

 _Not that Sanji had any choice in the matter, he'd been hand-picked by a Monkey D. He was going to be Luffy's chef whether he liked it or not._

 _Of course, they also used the time at sea to teach some of the intricacies of navigating, the kinds of things that couldn't be learned out of books._

 _The first time out, Garp noticed that Luffy seemed to understand what the book had said better after seeing it in action, and doing it himself, so he and Ace planned it out so that Luffy would learn out of the book, and then they would have him apply it practically as much as possible. If that meant that he was in charge of all the medical care required after a training session (under the careful supervision of Garp's ship doctor, all those on Garp's ship had been told what happened to Sabo, and they knew that the boys would never be Marines, not with them being at the beck and call of people like the Celestial Dragons), then that was what happened. Practicing on Ace like he did also gave him an extra incentive to get it right._

So, yes. Ace was setting off stronger than ever, and he had made sure that Luffy was as strong and knowledgeable as he could be before Luffy himself set off when he was seventeen. Luffy had even gotten himself his first crew member already, so he was already further in his pirating career than Ace was, and he wasn't going to be setting sail for another three years.

However, over the years, it had been decided that both Luffy and Ace would hide their true strength for as long as possible, while still training their crews. This way, they could avoid drawing too much attention from the Marines until the rest of their crews were ready to face that kind of attention. It would give them the added benefit of being underestimated, which would help if they did ever run into Marine top-brass.

Garp had gone back to his posting at Marineford a year before, so he would go back to dropping by once or twice a year until Luffy set sail when he reached seventeen. Just enough to be able to gauge Luffy's progress and give him some pointers or new things to try as needed.

"You behave yourself, now!" He called to Luffy before pulling the rope to let the sails loose. He had already rigged everything up so that he could easily stand in one spot without problems, and still be able to effectively run the ship.

Luffy just laughed, while Ace smirked. They all knew that Luffy would spend the next three years continuing to train and add to his funds.

"I'll see you in a few years!" Luffy called, waving as Ace sailed away. He couldn't wait to set sail himself.

* * *

Ace slowly got up again, panting. He glanced over at his opponent, the fishman Warlord had put up a good fight, but in the end, Ace got him. He'd had to pull out one of the techniques taught to him by Garp, (which he had kept up his training in over the years, even if he didn't always use them in a fight) in order to put the Warlord down.

The fight had lasted for five days straight, and he was exhausted, and hungry. So hungry!

"Captain!" He heard, when he looked up, he saw his crew running towards him, he merely gave a tired grin and waved. When he picked up each of them, he'd started training them almost right away. And, while they hadn't been happy at first, they had understood his logic of keeping what he was teaching them, hidden. After all, a rookie pirate, even the super rookie, having skills and abilities like he did, would attract way too much attention from the wrong parties. Those parties would then look into it, and it might lead them to Luffy or Gramps. Of course, at the time they also knew that, learning new and powerful skills did not suddenly make them strong enough to be able to deal with that kind of attention.

Before his crew could reach him, though, he saw them stop and look behind him with horror on their faces. He frowned and looked, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Coming out of the fog surrounding them, was a distinctive whale-shaped ship.

The Whitebeard Pirates.

Inwardly, he was panicking. If he had shown up before the five day long battle he just had with a Warlord, then he might be able to last longer than a few moments. But now he was exhausted. On top of that, he had no idea just what he was capable of even when he wasn't tired like this, he'd been hiding his true strength to stay under the radar. They'd made the decision to start openly showing skills in Haki after arriving in the New World, but the other skills he'd taught his men after being taught them by Garp, they had decided to slowly start showing them as if they were 'experimenting' and as if they stumbled on them on their own.

As a pirate, especially one like Ace, drawing too much attention wasn't necessarily a good thing, he'd already gotten an angry Transponder call from Garp about the amount of trouble he had been causing already, as well as how much attention it drew. But, as all that attention had nothing to do with his abilities and such, neither was too worried about it. Of course, the only reason Garp had called at all was because of his refusal to the Warlord position.

Well, mostly it was about the _way_ he refused the position.

Destroying that Marine base and leaving the letter from the Fleet Admiral pinned to the base commanders hat had been fun. Hi-jacking the Marine bases broadcasting system and rigging it to broadcast around the world while they broadcast a 'news report', now that had been an excellent touch.*

Ace was thinking about doing it again, it had been really fun.

Now, the Whitebeard Pirates were right in front of him. Sure, he'd been wanting to take out the old captain, but not right now! Not when he was exhausted from a five-day long battle. He gulped, but slowly stood up, determined to at least give his crew time to escape.

"Gurarararara! So, this is the brat who wanted to take my head?" The older, _huge_ captain laughed and asked, jumping off the whale-head to the ground below. It was far enough, that if it were anybody else making the jump, Ace would think they were suicidal or something. "Very well, I'll take you on." He said with a smirk as he walked closer. Newgate observed their surroundings as he walked, noticing the beaten, but still breathing, form of Jinbei, and how beaten up Ace himself looked. A more honest man would have taken one look and decided to wait until the boy was more rested and any injuries seen to, but he was a pirate.

Besides, there wasn't really much the boy would be able to do even if he _was_ rested and fresh.

Plus, he'd been following Fire-Fist Ace's career with interest, and he wanted to see for himself what the boy was made of. He was a potential new recruit, after all.

"Captain!" "Ace!" The Spades called, worried. In response, Ace looked behind him, and Whitebeard thought he saw and felt a moment of panic in both the boys eyes and in his aura. The next moment, a wall of fire was separating the crew from their captain.

"Trying to run away?" He taunted, already knowing that this brat would fit in just fine aboard the _Moby Dick_. The crew were still yelling for the captain, who merely yelled back for them to run.

"Nope, making sure my crew gets away safe. I don't run from fights." Especially not ones that he himself picked. Although, he wasn't sure how Whitebeard had heard that he was wanting his head, the only one he'd told outside his crew was...

Right.

Of course Shanks couldn't keep his mouth shut. Or at least, if it wasn't him, then it was somebody on his crew who didn't know how to keep his trap shut. He was pretty sure it wasn't _his_ crew, they would never betray his confidence like that, they knew that everything he told them, was to be kept between them, unless told otherwise.

He thought he saw a gleam of approval in Whitebeard's eyes, before he jumped at him, fist on fire and Haki blazing. It doesn't take much to know that holding anything back here is _not_ a good idea. He distantly heard his crew still yelling for him, despite the fact that they'd been ordered to _run_.

"Is that Haki?" Marco asked Thatch quietly once the fight started.

"There were never any reports of him displaying Haki, not even once he passed Fishman Island." Haruta added in, watching with interest.

"He might not have had a chance to really display it yet. Or he's been hiding it for some reason." Thatch said with a shrug, only for his mouth to drop open in shock when Ace used Moonwalk and Shave in close succession. Those were Marine techniques, only used by the top-brass or Cipher-Pol divisions, and the occasional pirate who figured out how to do it, too, from watching them fight. Of course, there were also those who defected from the Marines after gaining a high enough rank to learn those.

But, this rookie was too young to have been a Marine that highly ranked, or a Cipher-Pol agent. So, where had he learned something like that?

"I think its safe to say that he's been hiding skills." Jiru said beside them, they were all impressed, watching this. But still, it was clear that the rookie was exhausted, and there was a hesitancy in his movements when he used certain techniques that indicated he wasn't used to using them in battle. The battle didn't last long, though.

When Ace was on the ground, beaten, Whitebeard looked down at him and grinned. Then, he extended his hand. "Why not join me? Run wild under my banner, join my crew, and be my son!" Ace's eyes widened and his face twisted with emotion for a moment before he finally yelled back.

"Screw you, old man!" He surged up to continue the fight, but a well placed punch from Whitebeard ended that quickly enough when he finally fell unconscious.

The fire wall had long since dropped, but Ace's crew were nowhere in sight, Marco was slightly disappointed that they really had taken off, he would have thought that they would stick around, for a captain that cared about them as much as Ace clearly did, plus all the reports they'd received pointed at the crew as being 'loyal to the end'. Well, unless they were off planning something...

Two days later, his guess was proven correct when the Spade Pirates ship stopped following them from a distance and surged forward instead, cannons aimed and waiting to be fired. "Give us back our captain!" Some of the Spades yelled as they Moon-walked up to the _Moby's_ deck. Needless to say, they were successfully driven off, but they knew they hadn't seen the end of them.

The fifth time they attacked, they were all knocked out and tied in the hold of their ship. The Second Division was set to guard and take care of them while Ace was recruited, Pops said he would let them decide what they wanted to do when Ace finally joined them, but the invitation was open, if Ace joined, then they were welcome to come along. He liked the loyalty they were displaying to their captain.

Of course, when they searched the Spades ship, out of curiosity more than anything else, they were surprised to find an old, falling apart trunk full of books that looked equally beat up and weather damaged. They were all about Navigation, medicine, and ship repair/maintenance. Whitebeard was interested to hear about it.

Beside the trunk, was a safe with the company logo from the East Blue, which meant it was simple for them to break into. Marco was surprised to find it full of money and other treasures. It was mostly surprising, because they had already found the treasure room on the ship, with the key around the First Mate's neck. Also inside, was a stack of medallions decorated with Noble crests. When they asked their brothers on the _Moby_ who had a Noble background, they were informed that all the crests were from the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue.

Which made sense, the boy was rumored to have grown up on Dawn Island, where the Goa Kingdom was.

Dusty, the First Mate of the Spades, only said that the captain had that stuff back when they first met, and to _stop snooping in the captain's privacy!_

When Ace finally showed signs of waking up, the Second Division sailed the ship away until the _Moby_ was just within sight. They took a video Transponder Snail with them so that Ace and his crew could speak face to face, that way the captain could see for himself that his crew was unharmed, but couldn't try to rescue them, and vice versa.

* * *

Ace was getting frustrated, he'd been stuck on this ship for a month now and nothing he did to take Whitebeard's head worked. Thatch was even running a betting pool on how many attempts he would make before finally giving up. He was already approaching one hundred as it was. Thing was, he honestly didn't know what he wanted to do right now.

At least he got to speak with his crew every night, and see them over the Transponder, so he knew that they weren't being mistreated. He supposed that he should be grateful to Po- Whitebeard for that at least. They could have cut him off completely from his crew, and he'd been told that the offer to join the Whitebeard's extended to them as well.

As another bonus, he was getting some battle experience in those techniques he learned from Garp, even if he tried to only use them when nobody else was around, he didn't like the aura from one of the Second Division members. There was just something about him...

He was currently sitting on the floor, against the railing, thinking (sulking), when he felt Marco approach him, with something that smelled really good in his hands. When Marco stopped beside him, he set the good smelling object down, and Ace was interested to see that it was a bowl of soup. Marco didn't stick around long, though. He seemed to be working with the theory of letting Ace come to them, instead of crowding him and potentially pushing him away.

That, and Marco was not pleased about all the attacks Ace was launching against his captain. The attempts were amusing, at first. But now, he was finding them to be annoying and a little insulting.

"Why do you call him Pops?" He asked suddenly as Marco was walking away. He spoke almost without meaning to.

"Because he calls us his sons. It's just a word, but..." Marco shrugged with a small grin, then seemed to consider before moving closer again and kneeling down beside Ace. "Listen, how long are you going to keep this up? You can't keep going for much longer." And it was true.

(What Marco didn't say, was that the Whitebeard's patience wouldn't last forever, either. Already, some of the siblings were starting to grumble about the repeated attempts on their fathers life.)

Ace had been fishing for his meals, or raiding the kitchens at night all month, and constantly being thrown through walls and railings, and dumped in the ocean was starting to take its toll as well. He was surprised that he hadn't had any major issues yet with his Narcolepsy. As for being thrown through things, he didn't want to phase through as fire, because that would only catch the ship on fire. Which would be bad, because they were in the middle of the ocean, and he wasn't the only Devil Fruit user on the ship, either.

No matter how much he didn't want to like this crew, he knew what it was like to be in the ocean... that feeling of helplessness and vulnerability. Knowing that if somebody didn't swim fast enough, you were dead. He wasn't going to be the one to put another Fruit user in the ocean if he could help it.

But that was another problem. Despite his best efforts, he _was_ starting to really like it here. This place was starting to feel like home, he was starting to feel like he did back then, back when Sabo was still alive and it was just the three of them against the world. Just earlier, he caught himself thinking about Whitebeard as 'Pops' himself.

He didn't answer Marco, and instead looked down at the bowl of soup sitting innocently by his feet. Such a simple gesture, and yet...

"I need to make a call." He muttered, glancing at Marco and getting up. Marco grinned when he noticed that Ace took the soup with him.

* * *

Ace glared moodily at his cell doors.

He'd gone after Teach, and he caused quite a bit of damage to the other pirate, but in the end he underestimated him. Despite the fact he'd always known there was something off about the man. He had gone into the fight not knowing enough about the Devil Fruit that he'd attacked Thatch for.

After the last attack, he'd passed out, and the first thing he saw when he woke up was the front gate of Impel Down. Going through processing before being 'escorted' to his cell was... painful. To put it lightly. And, if he ever got out of here, that Sadie woman was the first on his list to be hunted down. That sadistic little... he didn't understand how his grandfather could work for an organization that employed people like her.

He was so angry with himself right now. All that preparation, all that extra training and reading when he was younger, so he would be ready to set sail and take anything the sea threw at him... and he failed to find everything he could on his opponent before going after him.

He sighed and tilted his head against the wall behind him. This was level 6 of Impel Down. There were only two ways he was leaving here.

Dead, or being escorted out for his execution.

Unfortunately, he was pretty sure it would be the was under orders to leave no visible injury, and to leave him alive. (Which of course, meant that she had liberty to be extra creative with her torture.)

No visible injury, also meant they could show him off to the public without losing face for executing a man that was half dead already. The public didn't like that kind of thing, it made them all seem less threatening when they were already dead or dying.

He worried though. Not for himself, no... he knew exactly what was going to happen to him. He worried for his crew, his family. And... especially for Luffy. He worried about Luffy the most. He wasn't going to take Ace's death well. Not at all.

Ace only hoped he didn't try anything stupid once he read the news. Whenever they made the announcement... he was the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. His execution was going to be big news.

Knowing Luffy, he was probably going to do something stupid, like trying to break into Impel Down.

Ace laughed just thinking about it, before he froze and looked around at his surroundings. He went stark white, something the prisoners across the aisle noticed.

"What's wrong, Fire-fist?" His moniker was sneered mockingly. "Did you finally realize where you are?" He was asked, bitterly.

"My baby brother." Was all he said, horrified.

"What about him?" Came the confused question.

"As soon as my execution or imprisonment is announced... I give it a week before he comes busting in here." He glanced around again. The still air, the scent of blood coating everything, the screams from down the hall where Sadie was... working. "I don't want him anywhere near him. If he comes here..." He whispered in horror.

The other prisoners all looked at each other, not knowing how to respond to that. Very few of them had family worth worrying about. Even fewer of them would have cared even if they did. Those few that did, and actually cared about it, would do anything for their family. They understood Ace's fear.

"Who is your brother?" One asked.

Ace was silent for a moment before he answered. "Monkey D. Luffy." He smiled softly just thinking about him. "The most reckless idiot to ever sail the seas. He would definitely break in here if given half a chance."

"Strawhat?" Crocodile growled from down the row. "That little brat is the reason I'm in here." He hoped Strawhat showed up. If he ever got free from these chains... Strawhat was at the top of his list, along with Whitebeard.

Ace smirked. He'd forgotten about that. "Aw, did the Warlord get beat by a rookie fresh from the East Blue?" He taunted, proud of his little brother. That set the rest of the prisoners off. Jeers and catcalls echoed throughout the cell block. Some of them wanted to meet the boy now. He sounded strong.

Crocodile growled. "Listen here, I don't know where the kid came from, but there is no way its the East. He's too strong." The brat had tried to hide it with the water and bloodied fist trick, but he was a Logia from the New World. He knew what Haki felt like.

"He's from the East, believe me. I should know, I practically raised him." Ace quipped back. He hoped none of these prisoners ever escaped, they already knew too much about Luffy. "I just hope he's not crazy enough to come here." He muttered again, the good mood that always came from talking about his brother vanishing.

"I don't know. I overheard the guards, didn't he destroy Enies Lobby? And declare war on the government?" One of them asked.

Ace snorted. "If they didn't want the island destroyed, then they shouldn't have taken one of his crew, or given Spandam access to a Buster Call button." He'd heard the real story from Garp when his Gramps came to visit the day before. When Garp the Fist demanded a private room to speak with the prisoner, Garp the Fist got a private room.

The other prisoners all blinked in silence for a moment before cheering, laughter, and jeers filled the prison level. They were thrilled at the news. The Marines destroying their own island was cause for celebration to them. Most of them, Enies Lobby was the last bit of the outside they'd seen before being thrown in here.

(On floor 5.5, where the Okama had hidden themselves, they all looked down at the floor beneath them in concern. What had the Level 6 prisoners so worked up, and should they get ready to move? The prison guards in the security room eyed the monitors nervously, hoping they wouldn't have an escape attempt on Level 6.)

"Now I _have_ to meet this kid." One of the older prisoners mused. He sounded just like Captain Roger... Come to think of it, Fire-fist Ace _looked_ just like Rouge and Roger. He knew Rouge had been pregnant when the Captain turned himself in... "Your family name was Portgas, right?" He asked suddenly.

Ace was instantly on guard, closing off completely. "Yes." He said slowly.

"Hmm. You look just like your parents. the Captain was heartbroken to disband our crew, and to leave your mother to turn himself in... but he wanted the Marines attention off Rouge and their unborn child while he still could." He said, his fellow Roger Pirates made noises of agreement.

Ace paused a moment before delivering the scathing diatribe he was going to give after he realized the man was a member of Gol D. Roger's crew. "What do you mean, 'while he still could'?"

"The Captain was terminally ill. He only had six months to live at the time of his execution." He said.

Ace was stunned silent for a moment. "Well, it didn't work, the Marines still tore through the South Blue searching for me." He said. He decided to think on the 'terminally ill' bit, at a later time.

"Yeah, most of our crew that was captured, was captured trying to deflect the Marines attention somewhere else. Myself included. I'm glad you managed to escape the searches. I'm glad you found Newgate, he would have been good to you. He'll also come for you. And we gotta be ready when he does. Right, boys?" He called to the rest of the former Roger Pirates that had managed to survive this long in this place.

Cheers and a muted battle cry were his answers. They weren't going to let their captains living legacy die.

If (when)this Strawhat Luffy appeared for his brother, they were going with them. Those boys were going to need help getting out. He just hoped that Luffy was really up to the challenge.

* * *

To say the Marines were confused about what was happening right now, was an... understatement. One minute they were all fighting, the next... one of their own battleships, fell out of the sky. Their confusion turned to horror, when men wearing Impel Down prisoner uniforms started crawling out of the wreckage.

(If Ace's hands weren't chained to the platform beneath him, his forehead would have been repeatedly introduced to his palms. Only Luffy, could pull something like _this_ off.)

Many of the prisoners were small fry. But the big names with them...

Former Warlord Crocodile, the Warlord Jimbei, the Revolutionary Ivankov, and many more from Level 6. The older, higher up Marines were the only ones that recognized some of the Level 6 prisoners.

Former members of the Pirate King Gol D. Roger's crew.

They were free.

Whitebeard, of course, recognized the men as well, and smirked. Well, well. He looked at Ace, they must be here for their captain's son. Of course, they could also be simply following the bearer of that strawhat into battle once more, but somehow he doubted that was the only reason they were here.

Ace yelled in horror for his brother to leave (after getting over his shock at the impressive entrance he made, of course), and begged (not that he would ever admit to doing such a thing) his father crew members to get his brother out of there.

Ace's hopes were crushed and stomped on when the Fleet Admiral announced not only his own parentage, but also Luffy's. Besides him, Garp closed his eyes in horrified resignation. Senny had promised that Luffy's parentage wouldn't be used against him if he stayed out of this fight. That Luffy's bounty and danger-levels would only ever be determined based on the boys own merits. Now, he could only hope that the training he provided, and the Roger pirates at his side, would be enough for Luffy to leave here alive. Whitebeard, as well, should protect the boy who one of his sons claimed as his baby brother.

Sengoku also couldn't help but identify the powerful ex-prisoners by Luffy's side as members of the Roger pirates that had been imprisoned in Impel Down.

In no time at all, Luffy and his allies tore through the battlefield. As a result, Luffy arrived at the platform relatively untouched. Anyone who stood in his way was rapidly cut down by the Roger Pirates, intent on protecting their captain's son and the one he claimed as his brother.

Not just for their dead captain, either. They'd become fond of the young man during his imprisonment with them, despite his less-then-fond attitude about his father. Which, made sense once they learned that Garp had been the one to raise and train him.

Unfortunately, a couple of them were cut down themselves. They'd been Level 6 prisoners for twenty years, much of their immense strength was gone. Taken by years of little to no activity, regular torture, and inadequate food. That being said, they were still more than a match for the Vice-Admirals that stood in their path. They would need to team up to be able to put the Admirals down, though.

That hadn't changed... if anything, a few of them were now under the impression that Marines were getting weaker as time went on. They were locked away for twenty years, and they were still winning against top Marines.

They still needed to get Ace out of here, quickly, though. Their stamina wasn't what it used to be.

Twenty years in a prison cell certainly did their damage.

What some of the other pirates found really amusing, was watching the Roger pirates berate their former cabin boy, Buggy the Clown, for letting himself go and letting his skills slip as badly as he had. He was still a New World pirate, so it wasn't like he was weak, but he had seriously let himself go. He got complacent, operating out of the East Blue.

No, his former crew was not happy with him, especially after Luffy had told them how Shanks was doing these days. (They were quite interested in the boy Shanks entrusted their Captain's hat to.)

Whitebeard could only stand back and watch as old, familiar faces swarmed towards the platform keeping his son captive. He shook his head and glanced towards Strawhat. He chuckled when the Roger pirates made sure the kid got to the platform, although he frowned and made sure his commanders knew that the Roger Pirates and the kid needed to leave here alive.

Well, they didn't _need_ to, he _wanted_ them to. Same thing, really.

The pirates all cheered when Luffy made it to the platform and grabbed Ace before just running with him, chains and all. Ace could only sit there in shock, watching all this happen. He couldn't react, he was in too much shock about what was happening.

When Garp and Sengoku tried to intervene, the Roger Pirates came forward and kept them busy. The crews main martial artist, Rocky, was about to be killed by Sengoku, when yet another person fell out of the sky, literally, and chuckled. (By this point, all major islands and towns that was receiving a broadcast of the execution, were in full panic, with riots in the streets.)

"Its been so long since anyone's heard from any of you, I will admit prison is the last place I imagined any of you to be." Reyleigh said, standing up and stalking forward, eyes fixed on Sengoku, who still had one of _his_ men before him, beaten and on his knees.

"Vice-Captain!" They called, overjoyed at seeing him.

The Marines cried out, collectively, in fear. Many threw down their weapons and ran, deeper into Marineford, hoping to escape to island. They had been wary enough going against _Whitebeard._ Then the Roger pirates showed up, dressed in prison rags, but still as strong as ever it seemed.

Now Dark-King Silvers Reyleigh?! Nope.

Just, no.

Who was going to show up next, Red-Haired Shanks?!

Ace merely watched everything going on around him, stunned, from behind a protective wall of bodies made up of Second Division members and former Roger Pirates. Luffy held onto him just as protectively while Dusty worked on picking the locks. He was protecting himself from the seastone with liberal use of Haki, and he wasn't even bothering to hide it.

Not today.

The men standing in front of Ace protectively shifted their stances when a group of stronger Marines charged them, ignoring everything else that was going on. They figured that the pirates would be hindered in their fighting while they had Portgas cowering behind them.

Both Ace and Luffy growled in annoyance and released a wave of Conquerors Haki at the same time. Ace gasped and slumped over, apparently using so much Haki while weakened from Seastone and his imprisonment was a bad idea.

The battlefield once again came to a halt as the majority of the remaining Marines collapsed after the combined wave rolled across the plaza and into the bay beyond.

Most of the fighters looked to either Reyleigh or Whitebeard to figure out which one released it, but both New World veterans were looking at Ace and Luffy. Garp merely smirked minutely at the shock on the Marines faces.

"I'm waiting for your pal, Shanks to show up next." Ace muttered to Luffy, loud enough that the Roger pirates surrounding them heard. On other parts of the battlefield, the fighting renewed. Whitebeard finally stepped off the _Moby's_ figurehead, and joined Reyleigh in fighting off Garp and Sengoku. The Whitebeard commanders tag-teamed the Admirals, or challenged the Warlords. The remaining Roger Pirates that weren't guarding Ace, were taking care of the Vice-Admirals, and everyone else that was too much for the average Whitebeard Pirate. (Which, was mostly just because they had been fighting for a while already.)

One of his division members turned to him, right when Dusty let out a crow of triumph, and help up the picked shackles. Ace (naturally) responded by flaring up and sighing in relief. "He might show up sooner or later, but last we heard, he had to intercept Kaido when they tried to intercept us and keep us from coming to get you." The Roger pirates turned in concern when they heard that name. Even back then, Kaido was always a thorn in their side. Not a particularly threatening one, to them at least, but a thorn nonetheless.

Now that the shackles were off, the protective circle started moving towards one of the Whitebeard's ships, with Luffy still wrapped around Ace to prevent him from returning to the fight (the only way to really get free, involved possibly hurting his baby brother. _That_ was not happening). The flare of fire had alerted their friends and allies that Ace was free (officially) and it was time to leave.

"Shanks is fine. Shanks'll show up when Shanks shows up. He's watching and waiting, just out of sight." Luffy interrupted, releasing Ace with one hand only long enough to point in Shanks' general direction. All the veteran pirates looked at the Rookie in surprise, while Ace snorted.

"His Haki has always been insanely strong. When Gramps taught him Conquerors, we had to head for an uninhabited island in the Calm Belt until he could control it enough not to knock everybody on our home island out." He explained. "If he says that somebody is out there, then somebody is out there." He muttered, quickly testing that he had control of his fire back. He had to be careful with it, though, because Luffy wasn't letting go of him, although Ace noticed that Luffy had himself coated in Haki, still. Just enough to shield from Ace's fire.

"By the way, where's your crew?" Ace asked, curious and more than a little concerned. From what he'd seen in Alabasta, the Strawhat Pirates were _all_ more than a little protective of each other. Luffy, as the captain, was just a little more... obvious about it. (Enies Lobby, anyone?) Since Luffy had been snuck into the prison by Hancock, then it was clear that his crew wasn't with him. And there was no way the absence was voluntary on their parts.

Luffy's eyes darkened, and he tilted his head down to shade his eyes with the brim of his hat. The Roger pirates glanced at each other. They'd seen that kind of look from their captain before. "We got separated on Sabaody. I don't know where they are. The bear-guy," He pointed at Kuma, "Sent them away. We couldn't stop him." Unsaid, was that _he_ couldn't stop him. "Zoro was still hurt from whatever happened on Thriller Bark, we were all hurt from fighting that giant robot that looked like him (another finger pointed at Kuma), and then the Admiral showed up..." He was strong, insanely strong, thanks to the training that his grandpa had put him through.

And his crew was much stronger than the average rookie crew, after the training _he_ put them through, starting the next day after they joined his crew. But... they hadn't been training as long as he had been. They had made amazing progress, but it was still years worth of training to truly master what he was trying to teach. And, Thriller Bark had _not_ been a good fight, for any of them. They'd still been recovering from fighting CP9, who learned, very quickly, not to underestimate the 'rookie' pirate crew. And then, that was on top of being weakened after being caught off guard and losing their shadows. They still hadn't fully recovered from _that_ fight when everything on the Archipelago happened.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Pops will agree to help you find them." Ace reassured his little brother.

"Yeah," Dusty grunted, as he caught Marine's sword. "As soon as we get out of here, ourselves." Instantly, the two brothers burst into action. All the second division and Roger pirates could do, was stand there and watch, gaping, at the teamwork shown by the two boys. Two boys, who hadn't fought side-by-side in a little over three years. They wove in and out of each others attacks seemingly without conscious thought, it was making the Roger Pirates somewhat envious.

Privately, they each thought that the Marines should be very, _very_ glad these two sailed on two separate crews. Apart, they were considered highly dangerous to the government, apart, they were both strong and skilled fighters. Together though, together they were an _unstoppable_ _force_.

The way they effortlessly annihilated the Marines that stood in their way... it was truly a sight to behold. The Roger Pirates couldn't have been more proud of their captain's son.

Nobody saw him coming. He came out of nowhere, one second the path to the ships was clear, the next, Admiral Akainu was standing in their path, dripping magma all over the stones beneath his feet and melting them.

"You demons aren't going anywhere. Your demon's blood will be terminated, right here." He growled, and the group tensed. Wasn't he being kept busy by Marco, Jozu, and Vista? When Dusty glanced around quickly, he was worried to see Marco quickly flying one of the other commanders towards the _Moby,_ but he couldn't make out which of the two it was. The third commander that was fighting the Admiral was nowhere to be seen, at least not through the crowd.

He almost face planted when he caught a glimpse of the dagger hanging from the Strawhat captain's hip, and suddenly remembered that he had Ace's dagger. He'd wanted to be the one to give it back, after one of their allied captains retrieved it from the battlefield, where Teach had left it. That, and Ace's hat, although that was still back on the _Moby_. The dagger (engraved with the Spade Pirates symbol) was quickly passed over, and Ace glared minutely before attaching it back where it belonged at his hip.

"Uh-oh." Luffy muttered, and latched onto his brother with one hand again, so that he could have an easier time of holding him back, or dragging him off if he resisted. He knew how Ace could get when faced with a stronger opponent. The group of pirates all glanced at each other in worry. They all knew, that they weren't getting past the Admiral without truly fighting for it.

Suddenly, both Luffy and Ace stiffened minutely before relaxing just as quickly. Luffy smirked, before he and Ace both charged at the Admiral standing in front of him. "Dusty, go help the rest of the crew. Take our division." Ace called behind him, wanting his brothers far away from this fight, and he also knew that he couldn't exactly order the Kings Crew around.

"What?" Dusty demanded, incredulous. "Oh, no. You did this back when we first met Pops, I am _not_ doing this again." He refused to tuck tail and leave his captain behind to face a powerful opponent. Not again. The only reason they had done it back then, was because Dusty had asked Shanks about Whitebeard back when they met up with him, so he knew Ace would survive the encounter, and the Spade's could attempt to rescue him later.

Ace didn't have that same chance of living here, Akainu was here to kill him.

"Dusty." Ace growled while ducking a magma fist aimed for his head. "Help the rest of your siblings with the wounded." He ordered flatly, making it clear that he wasn't asking again.

"Go, we'll stay here and help out." One of the veteran pirates put a hand on his shoulder, his full attention was on the fight in front of him, though. Dusty clearly didn't like it, but he went. Not without grumbling a warning under his breath about what would happen to them if his captain and the captains brother didn't reach the _Moby_ in one piece.

* * *

Ace stood at the figurehead of the _Moby,_ watching the ocean in front of him. Luffy was off somewhere, likely with Haruta making calls to try and find any word on his crew. Hopefully, the newspapers would have written that he was with the Whitebeard's, and the Strawhats would hopefully see it and call, since he had provided the rookie crew with the Whitebeard's number, and he was sure Luffy would have made sure they either knew it, or had a copy of it on them at all times.

Miraculously, they had come out of the fight with minimal casualties. Something that was attributed to the arrival of the Roger Pirates, Reyleigh, and then later Shanks. Just as Akainu was about to land a fatal hit on Ace, who was shielding his baby brother, who's strength and body had finally given out on him.

 _Ace was glaring as he stood between Akainu and his precious baby brother. Not long after the fight began, several vice-admirals had come and started keeping his father's crewmates busy, so they were unable to intervene in the fight between Division Commander, rookie, and Admiral._

 _"Heh." Akainu huffed a laugh. "Your death and that of Whitebeard will usher in the death of the Pirate Age. The disease of piracy will finally come to an end." He sneered as he raised his fist, magma dripping._

 _Ace merely gritted his teeth, coated his torso (a vital spot to protect) and fists in as much Haki and fire as his exhausted state would allow, and raised his fist to meet Akainu's attack. He couldn't dodge, Luffy was defenseless behind him, and would be until somebody managed to finish one of their fights without getting sucked into another one. If he dodged, the admiral's attack would hit his baby brother. That was something that couldn't happen. However, he also knew that his efforts wouldn't be enough. He was exhausted, and was barely keeping up with the Admiral as it was, even with Luffy at his side._

 _It was like sparring with Gramps for the first time, all over again. Of course, it wasn't like the later sparring sessions were any better..._

 _He could barely muster the energy for Tekkai. And that was one of the easiest Marine techniques in regards to energy requirement._

 _The blow was about to hit, Ace could feel the heat and smell his hair burning, when it was suddenly knocked away. "Wha-" He asked in shock. Distantly, he heard one of the nearby Roger Pirates call out, 'Cabin-boy!'. When he looked up, he could only stare in shock, collapsing to the ground beside Luffy in exhaustion._

 _Standing between him and the Admiral, with his sword raised and still locked with the Marines Haki and magma coated fist, was Red-Haired Shanks. His face was set with a fierce scowl, and Ace could have sworn that the other Yonko was_ growling _._

 _Once again, the battlefield came to a halt as the fighters noticed the newest arrival. Once again, more Marines threw their weapons down and started fleeing deeper into the island, hoping that there were still ships left if they needed to get off the island._

 _"Great." Sengoku muttered, while Garp looked like he couldn't decide whether to be relieved Shanks had such good timing, or if he wanted to strangle the one that got Luffy's head filled with ideas of piracy. (Ignoring the fact that Luffy wanted to be a pirate long before he met Shanks)._

 _Shanks shoved Akainu back and exchanged a few more blows with the Admiral, while some of his crew went and helped the former prisoners with the vice-admirals they were fighting. It was clear, that they were starting to flag, and were starting to gather a collection of wounds. Finally, Akainu was shoved back when Sengoku and Garp abandoned their fight with Whitebeard and Reyleigh, who gave quick orders to hurry up to the ships before joining Shanks in facing off with the Fleet Admiral and Marine Hero._

 _"Well, Fleet Admiral, are you really prepared to finish this fight?" Shanks asked, glaring at the Admiral, barely noticing when Reyleigh joined him, with Whitebeard right behind him._

 _The Admiral took one, long look at the Pirates standing in front of him, and then eyed what was left of his soldiers as well as the damage the island had sustained from so many powerhouses and one-man armies fighting in such a confined space, and sighed angrily. He was going to get it from the higher-ups for this. However, he had to salvage something from this whole thing, and he was choosing to save the remainder of his men, and the rest of Headquarters. "Go. Get out of my sight. You have half an hour." He growled, before turning around to bodily drag Akainu away, knowing that he wasn't going to obey this order._

 _Honestly, if he had his way, Akainu would have been written up so many times over the years, considering the high number of civilian casualties he caused as well as the number of Marines killed at his own hand because of his own careless disregard, that the man never would have been promoted past captain, no matter how strong he was. If he wasn't outright fired and charged. However, the final decision regarding promotions and such, was not necessarily his to make. Neither he, nor Garp were at all fond of the Admiral._

 _Shanks narrowed his eyes at Garp, but turned to Reyleigh and happily welcomed his former shipmates onto his ship, offering to sail them wherever they wanted to go. Then, he walked towards Ace and Luffy, shaking his head as he picked Luffy's hat up off the ground and dangled it around the rubber captain's neck by its string, before picking Luffy himself up with a grin. "Honestly, little Anchor. The situations you get in sometimes." He carefully maneuvered Luffy onto his back, and reached his hand to help Ace up._

 _"Come on, I think our welcome is outstayed." Shanks said with a grin, glancing around at his fellow Yonko. Whitebeard just laughed, and scanned to battlefield to see that most of his men, wounded included, were already to the ships._

 _"Come on, son. Let's go home." He reached out and Ace gratefully climbed up to sit on his hand, only to gently be transferred to Whitebeard's shoulder with a tired yawn._

 _"I'll sail alongside for a bit, but I need to get back to the New World soon, I think Kaido has been getting ideas recently." Shanks said, rolling his eyes and adjusting Luffy's weight._

Shanks had sailed beside them long enough for Luffy to wake up, and for the Red-Haired Pirates to have a proper party to celebrate their reunion with their Anchor. After that, he split off to head towards Sabaody, where he was going to drop of Reyleigh and the rest of his former shipmates. They had apparently decided to hang around there for a while, before deciding what to do next. They'd been locked up for twenty years, with no hope of ever getting out, after all. They hadn't exactly planned for the future beyond surviving the next session with Sadie.

He startled slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "What's Ace worried about?" Luffy asked, eyes big and innocent looking. Ace was one of the few to know, just how deceiving those eyes could be.

Ace grinned lightly and pulled his brother in for a side-ways hug. "Nothing, I guess. I'm just really glad I demanded that Gramps train us like he did." He said.

The war, could have gone so much worse, than it had.

* * *

*I am talking about the story 'Spades On-Screen' by Stormy1x2. Whenever I need something to laugh about, that one is one of the best. I highly recommend reading it. I decided to include it as how he refused the position.

And, events in Marineford are different than in cannon, because for one, the Gol D. Roger's remaining crew didn't show up and change the Marines plans by their presence alone. Also, this is my fic. If I don't want raining meteors of death, then there won't be raining meteors of death.

Also, I'm not sure if anybody has really noticed, but, as you can all see, I don't really like stories where Ace dies. I'm not too thrilled that he died in cannon, although I will acknowledge that it was a pivotal moment for Luffy, and the story line in general.


	23. Why is it Burning? pt 2

_Scared of losing his brother. Scared of losing his Nakama. He knew that his captain wasn't worried about anything happening to himself._

 _He was terrified of something happening to everybody else._

 _Something he couldn't protect them from._

Luffy frowned at the ocean in front of him, any other time, he would be bouncing around in excitement and enjoying the sights around him. They were sailing _under water_!

He could see the fish around him, and it was _awesome_. But his worry for his brother was clouding everything. He and his crew had just reached the next island (Sanji would have reminded him that it was called Sabaody), when Ace's allies finally caught up with them.

They stayed long enough to gather the needed supplies, and coat the ship before it was attached to the other ship and towed underwater. Once underwater, the two ships were close enough for the bubbles to merge, making it easier for the crews to go back and forth as needed, but still separated enough that they didn't ram into each other. So far, the other crew hadn't said much, beyond asking some questions that Luffy really hadn't been in the mood to answer.

They were worried as well, otherwise they wouldn't have left Luffy alone until their curiosity was satisfied. Everyone in the Whitebeard Fleet knew about Luffy, he was Ace's beloved baby brother after all. Anybody who didn't already know about him was living under a rock for the last two years.

So far, there hadn't been any word from the _Moby_ about what exactly was happening, apparently whatever Blackbeard did with Ace, all parties involved were being tight-lipped. However, they had now been able to confirm that Ace lost the fight. If they didn't hear anything soon, Luffy was almost desperate enough to call his grandpa and demand answers.

 _Almost_.

He decided he wasn't that desperate for answers yet. If the Whitebeard's couldn't figure out what was going on by the time he reached them, then he would call the old Marine. But, not before then. For all he knew, his grandpa would somehow find a way to follow the calls signal and come find him. He shuddered at the thought and looked around cautiously, letting out a relieved sigh when the old man didn't pop up out of nowhere. No, he would call when he was with Ace's Nakama. They should be able to keep his grandpa away.

"Hey. You know, Ace is strong. And so is Pops. Whatever the kid has gotten himself into now, we'll be able to break him out of it." Whitey Bay said, coming up behind him. She had spent the day since she caught up with the Strawhats observing. And she'd seen the worry on all of their faces, but she also noticed that half the crews worry seemed to be more for their captain than anything else, and several of them had seemed to be doing their best to keep the rookie captain occupied, until he came to sit on the figurehead. It seemed to be an unspoken rule not to disturb him when he was sitting on the figurehead.

More importantly, she'd seen the fear and worry in Luffy's eyes when he looked at his crew. As worried as he was about his brother, he was also worried and scared for his crew. She liked that, these days, it was getting more and more rare to find a captain who cared about their crew and didn't just see them as human meat shields and expendable subordinates.

Luffy turned around, and studied her for a moment. "I know Ace is strong. He's the strongest person I know. But..." He shrugged helplessly.

She smiled slightly. "It's hard when the ones we love are in danger. I get it. I do, I have over a thousand siblings, you know. I worry about all of them, especially when I hear about them being sent out on missions. But we also have to trust that they can handle themselves. At least until help arrives to bail them out." She said, winking. Luffy laughed lightly at that.

"Anyway, I came over to see if you wouldn't mind some of my men offering some training while we sail. You guys are strong rookies, but you're still just rookies, the fights up ahead..." She shook her head. She'd called Marco before leaving Sabaody with the Strawhats, and he'd asked her to at least make sure the rookies unlocked their Haki if they could. He wasn't expecting them to in anyway be masters of the techniques, but he and Pops both figured that it would increase their chance of survival.

As much as Pops didn't want the rookie getting involved in his family matters, he knew that it was next to impossible to keep family away when they were worried. He knew that the rookie would figure out a way to involve himself, no matter what Pops did.

And Ace would kill them all if they let anything happen to his baby brother.

Luffy looked at her, and she resisted the urge to squirm when it felt like the rookie was looking straight through her, and looking into her very soul. "Alright." Was all he said, and then he got up to gather his crew, leaving her to nod at some of her men that had been watching the exchange from their own ship. They grinned and jumped across the space and onto the deck of the _Sunny_ , raising eyebrows at the grass and the swing. They dismissed it though, thinking that the ships design fit everything Ace had ever told them about his little brother's personality.

When the Strawhats were gathered in front of them, she cleared her throat and gestured towards Mark, her main combat expert. He knew pretty much every form of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat style ever invented. Her crews main swordsman, Marcus, was beside him. He would help Zoro with translating everything taught here into his swords. Joey, her sniper, would be in charge of teaching about Observation Haki, and maybe see if Usopp couldn't learn something new. Who knew though, Joey might learn something new from him. It wasn't every day, after all, that you met a skilled and accomplished sniper who's weapon of choice was a _slingshot_.

"Alright, Marco over on the _Moby_ asked us to at least help you guys unlock a power called 'Haki'. Now, there are three forms of it, two of which, everyone is capable of unlocking. How successful they are after that, well... depends on different factors. The two forms we are going to help you unlock, are called Observation, and Armament." Mark explained.

"What's the third form, and why can't it be unlocked?" Usopp asked, confused and nervous.

"The third, is more commonly called Conquerors, or the Conquering King. That one, only about one in every million people have it. There is no way to really test for it, either, except for it to appear in certain circumstances. Usually, those circumstances are stress filled moments of desperation. If, in the coming days, Captain Luffy here, or any of you really, displays signs of being a Conqueror, then I'm sure Pops will figure something out to help train it. With Conquerors, I've heard that it is safest to train that skill away from others, and with some instruction, that way you have less chance of hurting anybody that you care about. A fully realized Conqueror has been known to send his enemies into coma's, or cause permanent brain damage." Whitey Bay warned.

She figured that the easiest way to make sure the strawhatted captain didn't argue about it, was if she made it clear from the beginning what the dangers to those around him would be if he tried to train it by himself with no idea what he was doing.

The more cowardly of the Strawhats gulped. After a moment, Nami asked, "But, what exactly is Haki? And how could it cause brain damage?"

"Haki, is... basically it is taking your will power, and making it into a weapon. Armament Haki, uses your will, and forms a shield of sorts. You can also use Armament to cancel out a Devil Fruit power. If you can hit a Logia, then they can no longer turn into their element, or substance. A rubber body, will no longer be rubber, and blunt force will hurt, where it didn't hurt before." Mark said, gesturing towards Luffy, using him as an example since he was right there.

"So... when Nami hits me, and it hurts..." Luffy muttered. The other Strawhats looked surprised. Had she been using Haki all this time, without realizing it?

"Observation, helps you predict attacks and sense others nearby. Really powerful Observation users have been known to be able to hear 'the Voice'. They've described it as, everything in the world having its own voice, if you only pay enough attention to hear it. Now, only the really strong Observation Haki users have been known to hear it. They could communicate with animals, be able to tell you the history of an object just by touching it..." Joey trailed off, and was brought out of his passionate rant by a sharp elbow in his side, courtesy of Marcus. "Oh, sorry." He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "In battle, it can be used to keep track of your opponents, keep track of your allies, and help avoid getting hit."

"Like those Priests in Skypiea." Nami said, looking at her crewmates, surprised.

"Huh, yeah. Or, like when Zoro somehow seems to know where we are and can find us without getting lost, no matter where we are. Or, when he seems to just... sense that we're in danger." Usopp pointed out.

Mark huffed. "The fact that you guys have already sort of been using Haki all this time, without even realizing it, will make this so much easier." He said. The others with him nodded in agreement.

"And, Conquerors does almost exactly what it sounds like. Your willpower is imposed over another, and they are 'conquered'. It takes a great deal of willpower from your opponent, to be able to resist. Well, Marco tells me that you can get used it, if exposed often enough. Even if it's not directed at you. So, if any of you do end up showing signs of Conquerors while we are training, I'll have to call Pops to figure out how to train it safely, but one of the things that will be worked on, if possible, is getting the rest of the crew used to it. That will only be if one of you actually shows signs of having it, though." Privately, Whitey Bay was sure that if anyone on this crew was going to be a Conqueror, it would be Luffy, and maybe Zoro. She didn't say anything, though, just in case she was wrong.

"I'll take Zoro, Sanji, Franky, and Brook with me and start with Armament. Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Robin can go with Joey here to start with Observation." Mark said, splitting up the crew for training. They didn't exactly have all the time in the world, here. Once somebody learned the skill to a satisfactory level, then they would join the other group. He picked the initial groups, though, based on what he'd read in the newspapers of their fighting styles, and based on what he saw in front of him. The four he was taking with him seemed like the more combat oriented members of the crew, Armament should be the easiest for them to learn. They would focus on their strongest points for now. If enough skill was shown, then they would at least be taught how to unlock the other skill, just so they could have it at their disposal.

"Captain Luffy, you can start with whichever group you want to, if you want." Luffy may have given his permission for them to train him and his crew, but he wasn't going to presume to tell another ships captain what to do. And certainly not on the other captains own ship. Talk about disrespectful. His crew, that was another matter entirely since the captain gave his permission for them to train them. Couldn't train them without giving out orders.

Once the groups split up, Mark and Joey started with a quick demonstration of what the end results should be, and then started with the training exercises designed to unlock Haki. Luffy watched for a while, although he did join in the Armament group after a bit. Marcus drifted between the two groups, but once Brook and Zoro started to show signs of getting it, hours later, he focused more on the two swordsman, and making sure they knew that Armament could be 'transferred' to objects they were holding. Like their swords. Whitey Bay had long since gone back to her own ship to handle her own duties as captain, and update Marco.

They took a break for lunch, and stopped for the day in time for Sanji to make dinner. Zoro and Sanji were pronounced able to join the Observation group for a bit when they picked up the next day, much to their satisfaction. Robin was the only one from her group that they felt comfortable letting switch, although the other three were showing great progress as well. While they ate, the three older pirates discussed training strategies, and how to best use Haki to its fullest, with the Strawhats.

Nobody was under any delusions that these new skills would be mastered by the time they reached where the Whitebeard's were gathering their allies, but they would at least be able to use it in an emergency. For them to at least be able to keep the skill 'active' for roughly a minute, or even a little longer, was the goal here. Once that was accomplished, the New World pirates were going to spar with them a little bit, and maybe work on some technique with them. Marcus wasn't quite sure what he was going to do with Zoro, considering Zoro's entire technique was invented by the green-haired swordsman himself, but he would figure out something.

* * *

Marco breathed an angry sigh when Haruta came running up to Pops chair, where Marco was sitting on the arm rest, beside Whitebeard. For the past week, Haruta and some of his division had holed themselves up in quiet corners of the ship, often surrounded by Snails while they made and received calls from contacts all over the Grand Line, and even into the Four Blues. So far, all they had been able to confirm in the entire week, was that Ace lost the fight with the Traitor, and that the Marines were indeed moving. They did not, however have any word of what happened to Ace after the fight.

They only knew Ace was still alive, because his Vivre Card was still burning and hadn't completely burned itself out. Dusty would not have kept quiet if that happened during the week, since he refused to let go of it, not even to let Marco and Whitebeard hold onto it. They didn't push the issue, letting the former Spade Pirate hold onto the piece of life-paper.

Now, however, it looked like Haruta finally had something. "Pops, Marco. We finally found out what happened after the fight. It's like we thought, the Traitor turned Ace over to the Marines, he was announced as the newest Warlord ten minutes ago." He announced, and those that gathered around Pops chair grumbled angrily and gripped their weapons tighter. (They never set them down, not since Strawhats call about Ace's Vivre-card.)

Pops tightened his grip on his Bisento, and his children shuddered as an angry wave of Conquerors rippled through the air and the surrounding seas. (On the oceans surface, a passing Marine ship rocked violently in the sudden violent waves). "Where is Ace now?" He asked tightly.

Haruta scowled. "The ship the Marines put him on was scheduled to reach Impel Down in five minutes. I already checked, none of our allies are close enough to intercept, not in five minutes."

The angry mutters grew, and Whitebeard closed his eyes in resignation of the suffering his son was going to have to go through before they could free him. "How many of our allies are here that were called?" He asked instead. Not all of their allies had been called to gather, some were asked to stay behind and guard the Whitebeard's territory.

"We're just waiting on Whitey Bay to get here with the Strawhats." Izo said, walking over from the railing, where he had been watching their allies ships.

"Keep your ears out, I want to know what they have planned for Ace." Whitebeard instructed. Haruta nodded with a 'well, duh' look on his face, and went off to sit in his circle of Transponder Snails again. The rest of the crew that had gathered once they saw Haruta dispersed as well, and the sounds of sparring once again filled the air. They were all ready for a fight, they couldn't think of doing anything other than preparing for the fight they all knew was coming.

"Call Bay, ask for an update on the Strawhats training, and their general location." Whitebeard asked Marco, who nodded and pulled the Snail out of it's case beside him.

" _Hello?_ "

"Bay, where are you?" He asked.

" _Hmm. We should reach the meeting point tomorrow evening at the earliest. The next morning at the latest."_ Bay said, not taking offense to the lack of greeting. Marco was like this whenever his protective instincts went haywire, and he had no way of 'appeasing' them. An act that usually involved tearing something or someone apart. " _Any word yet on Ace?"_

Marco sighed. "He should be arriving at Impel Down right about now." He grumbled, angry that there was nothing they could do about that.

Bay was silent for a moment. _"Aw, man. What am I going to tell Luffy? Knowing what Ace has told us about him, he's probably going to detach our ships and change course."_ She scowled. She was just as worried as the rest of them, though.

While they spoke, Whitebeard got up and wandered towards the figurehead where he could look out at the ocean surrounding them outside their bubble. "Sengoku." He growled. "You have one week to return my son to me. If you try anything with him, it will be war." He released a pulse of Haki in the general direction of Marineford, not caring that the wave wouldn't even reach the Marine stronghold.

Miles away, on the other side of the Red Line and safely seated in his office, Sengoku's head shot up from the report he was reading. He felt like somebody was right behind him, breathing down his neck, and he felt a dread pool in his gut that he hadn't felt since the day Roger was hailed as the Pirate King.

As he reluctantly signed the execution orders for Gol D. 'Fire-fist' Ace, he could only hope and pray that they could survive the coming storm.


End file.
